Thirty-eight Lynchburg College students, along with eight students from neighboring Randolph College, will be traveling to St. Lucia this summer for a service learning opportunity to match their academic interests in education, nursing, and international relations.
This is the first LC Study Abroad program that ties service with education and is the largest study abroad program ever assembled by Lynchburg College. It is also the first collaboration of a study-abroad program with another college.
LC would also like to give the Lynchburg community a chance to become a partner in this project. Anyone who would like to donate laptops, school supplies, or money for school supplies can contact Anne Gibbons at 544-8470.
The program will begin with a week of classes at LC May 12-16. Students depart for St. Lucia May 21 and return June 6.
Lynchburg College officials foresee a long-term commitment to service learning on the island of St. Lucia, where LC established an educational partnership in July 2003. That effort began with a workshop for 50 special education teachers that has resulted in 11 students from St. Lucia coming to LC to complete their bachelor's and/or master's degrees. Another 25 educators earned their M.Ed. in school counseling on St. Lucia.
To extend the partnership further, the May-June service-learning program will include preschool screening related to health, developmental, and educational needs; mentoring and tutoring adolescents at risk; and involving international relations students in understanding governmental and cultural considerations in St. Lucia.
Students will also have the opportunity to explore the island as they work jointly with St. Lucian colleagues during the service learning activity. As they explore the culture, students learn about the legacy of colonialism and address important issues in international development.
A grant from Jessie Ball duPont in Support of International Service Learning is providing travel scholarships for the LC students and stipends for faculty.
Dr. Glenn Buck, associate professor in special education, who has been involved in the St. Lucia partnership from the beginning, will be one of three professors leading the trip.
"LC's involvement in St. Lucia's educational system has yielded many positive outcomes," he said. "Thousands of children and their families will be impacted by the training we have provided. Future involvement of our LC students, in terms of study abroad, will open additional doors. Preschool children will be screened for at-risk factors and developmental delays before they enter kindergarten.
"St. Lucia is a place of incredible beauty, but also a place of significant challenge. Some of its citizens live in almost third-world conditions. The educational system is very different than the system we have in the U.S., differences that are both positive and negative. This service-learning experience will introduce our students to a part of the world that is often seen only through the lens of U.S. tourists. We'll see the real St. Lucia; the richness of a unique culture that has been shaped by time and fascinating historical events."
Dr. Sabita Manian, associate professor of international relations at LC, Jennifer Hutchinson, assistant professor of nursing at LC, and Dr. Brad Bullock, professor of sociology at Randolph College, will be leading the trip.
Peter Wilcox '08, a nursing major from Charlottesville, said the trip will allow him to combine his love of travel and nursing. "Being able to provide for less fortunate people has always appealed to me," he said. "I would love to see what life is like in other parts of the world."
Anne Gibbons, director of SERVE (Students Engaged in Responsible Volunteer Experiences), said, "Ideally service learning is rooted in the needs that the community partner identifies rather than the service providers' ideas of what would be helpful. Thanks to the longstanding relationships that have been developed between Lynchburg College and St. Lucia, we are considered a trusted and dependable partner."