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| Faith Childress stands high above Bosphorus, the strait that connects the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmara in Istanbul, Turkey. |
Bringing the World Into Her Classroom
"When we learn the language, music, foods and history of other cultures, we broaden our lives exponentially,” says Faith Childress, Ph.D., associate professor of history. “Travel is one of the best ways to learn about the world and to learn about oneself.”
A seasoned international traveler, Childress wants to share her new insights with students each time she returns to the United States. This desire, she says, makes her a better traveler.
“It motivates me to learn,” she says. “I have a responsibility to bring what I learn home and convey it in a clear way to give my students a global perspective.”
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| Open air shops such as this one line the streets of central Ankara, Turkey. |
With a specialization in modern Middle
Eastern history, Childress has traveled and researched extensively in Turkey. Her dissertation focused on education reforms in that country. She also has spent time in Jordan and recently returned from India.
Her travels have taught Childress that regardless of different cultures and practices, people around the world are alike in many ways.
“People around the world have similar
concerns — the well-being of their families,
educating their children, civil and human rights, and economic survival. The differences in
cultures are not good or bad, they are simply
different. I think understanding other cultures helps us understand our own better.”
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| Senior Nancy Compier visited the Atomium, a famous structure built for the 1958 Brussels World’s Fair. |
Viewing Issues Through a Global Lens
For Nancy Compier, there’s nothing foreign about international studies or service. Abroad is simply an extension of her community – the global community of which we’re all citizens.
“Even though we’re from different places and cultures, we all face the same challenges,” says Compier, a senior majoring in French, Spanish and political science who recently returned from studying at Vesalius College in Brussels.
This became clear during her studies and an internship with Help Age International, an agency focused on the needs of older citizens in developing countries. Through the internship, she attended European Parliament meetings, hearing discussions on issues such as climate change and immigration. It was the opportunity to view issues Americans are grappling with through a different lens.
“It was a great experience to hear those perspectives on the same issues,” she says now.
Compier also studied a short time in Spain, another international experience that helped expand her awareness of the world community’s needs and a commitment to finding solutions. Currently applying for a Fulbright Scholarship to work as a teacher’s aide in English as a Second Language classes in Mexico, Compier plans to attend law school and practice in the nonprofit sector.
That may seem like a long road, but for Compier, the experiences gained along the way can be as important as the destination.
Seeking to Understand Emerging Economies
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| The American University in Bulgaria was among Myles Gartland's destinations this year. |
As Bulgaria moved from socialism to capitalism in 1991, businesses began to compete in an atmosphere akin to the Wild West in the United States, says Myles Gartland, Ph.D., associate professor of economics. What better way to learn
about that period in Eastern European
history than to visit the country and talk to entrepreneurs who successfully rode the crest of the changing economic tide while navigating a notoriously corrupt political landscape?
Gartland did just that last summer when he traveled to Croatia, Bulgaria and Poland to study emerging economies. In addition to visiting with the Bulgarian businessmen, Gartland heard from politicians and explored the consequences of the World Trade Organization treaty known as the General Agreement on Trade in Services. The agreement makes it easier for service workers to take their skills across national borders. As a result, 19 percent of Polish health care workers now reside in Great Britain where salaries are higher, says Gartland.
While in Croatia, Gartland's group met with the deputy prime minister who is the country’s lead negotiator as Croatia works to enter the European Union. Gartland says that two-hour meeting brought complex issues to life that may be well documented in books but that make “rather boring reading” for students.
“I travel overseas once a year and bringing these stories back to the classroom is very important,” he
says. “You just can’t get them out of
a textbook.”
Opening Our Hearts and Minds
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| Tending the community garden is part of Chandler Domian’s service work in El Salvador. |
Twice a week, Rockhurst senior Chandler Domian jumps into a crowded pickup with the radio turned up loud and takes a bumpy hour-and-a-half-long ride to Canton el Cedro, El Salvador. There, she helps women tend the community garden, lends a hand in the soup kitchen at lunchtime and teaches English and computer classes.
Domian is spending the fall semester in El Salvador through a program called Casa de la Solidaridad (House of Solidarity). Hosted by Santa Clara University, the program allows her and 20 more U.S. students to take classes at the University of Central America, perform service two days a week and live in a community setting with Salvadoran scholarship students. Falling coffee prices have damaged the main source of income for communities such as El Cedro and triggered a need for the program.
Domian has been blogging to share her stories of the consistently hot weather, cold showers, washing laundry by hand and laughing through misunderstood conversations. The delicious food and warm friendly people are mentioned often. But she is also upfront about her conflicting feelings and admits she’s unsure of how to deal with the extreme poverty that surrounds her.
“Although my weekend was filled with so much joy and laughter, I can’t romanticize the lives that these people lead,” she said.
“Foreigners need to get over their fears and insecurities about visiting El Salvador and other Third World countries. We cannot understand another’s reality until we immerse ourselves in their culture. It’s about getting personal with the people and opening yourself up to new ways of thinking and seeing the world.”
Domian is majoring in Spanish with minors in journalism and English. Read more on her Rockhurst blog at www.rockhurst.edu/blogs. |
