By Jessica January
Special to In Motion
With another summer approaching, students are being invited to earn college credits while learning first hand culturally through Daytona State’s various study abroad programs.
Daytona State College gives students of all ages, locally and internationally, the opportunity to save money by providing study abroad opportunities that instill the motivation and passion to pursue successful careers, whether in the United States or abroad. In the summer of 2016, there will be numerous diverse opportunities for students to travel overseas as an expansion of their field of study.
“There are usually between three to five trips per year. In this coming year there will be five trips and depending on the course, these programs span around the world” said Alejandro Acevedo, a student in the work study program in the Office of Global Education. “There is also a service learning trip, last year in Haiti, this year in Nicaragua.”
Along with countless possibilities of pursuing a career at DSC, students have the chance to experience other cultures first hand while earning college credits. At DSC study abroad programs offered through the Office of Global Education and Affairs.
Among those in 2016 is a trip to Ireland with English professors Frank Gunshanan and Michelle Lee, scheduled Summer B term at a date soon to be announced. Students will spend four weeks in classes at DSC and the remainder of the term in Dublin and Northwest Ireland. Program sponsors are promising a once-in-a-lifetime event. The trip takes place during the centennial of the founding of the modern Free Irish State, which will serve as the dynamic backdrop for two core courses, ENC 1102 and LIT 2000.
The classes will focus on a theme of cultural identity: recognizing, exploring, and explaining stereotypes, those that reside in the local Daytona community, in the Irish-American community, and abroad, in Ireland itself. In doing so, students will learn how mythologies spring from environment and take on lives and roots of their own while studying classics from the Irish and Irish-American cultural canon, from the poetry of W.B .Yeats and music of U2 to Sean O’Casey’s play “Plough and Stars” to Roddy Doyle’s film “The Commitments” and, of course, James Joyce’s fiction.
Classes conclude in a week-long, hands-on exploration of Irish history and literature in Dublin and the traditional environment of County Donegal and the Northwest. Students can enroll in both ENC 1102 and LIT 2000 or choose to take an individual course, ENC 1102 or LIT 2000. Cost is approximately $2,500, which includes airfare and lodging at Inch House on private Inch Island, as well as guided tours of Derry, Dublin, Cliffs of Moher and more.
The goal of the Office of Global Education and Affairs is to assist Daytona State College by teaching students how to improve their quality of life, compete successfully in the job market, to accept the diversity around them and to help provide awareness, not only throughout the local community but on an international level as well. The Study Abroad Program helps those goals be successfully obtained.
Other programs offered include: Directed Study in European History — London; Directed Study in Education — Nicaragua; and Humanities Overseas— Italy.
“Scholarships are available for students to help with the cost of their chosen trip,” said Acevedo. “The Study Abroad Program as a whole is available to all students interested.”
School of Nursing Professor, Dr. Jane Rosati is one of three professors on campus involved in the Study Program “NUR3655 – Nursing in a Multicultural Society.”
“A colleague of mine who teaches in England offered me the opportunity to experience the Study Abroad Program,” School of Nursing Professor Dr. Jane Rosati said. “In 2013, we partnered with the other school on a fact finding mission, which lasted 10 days. In those 10 days, we shadowed classes in action, doctors and nurses. We went on excursions to different universities and hospitals, even to the Royal Marsden, which has the largest hospice center in the world. Although the students are not physically able to be hands-on, they are able to experience the difference in medical practices on an observational level.”
Professor Rosati, who’s taught for 12 years, has a background in the medical field as a nurse reaching back 37 years. She is enthusiastic about the upcoming trip.
“We put this study program on a multicultural level because there is so much history in the evolution of the medical field, especially culturally as medical practices differ around the world,” she said. “What I am the most proud of is when we presented the idea to the students. When they heard about the program, they were so excited, wow! That response was incredible.”
Although many future and past trips make up the Study Abroad Program, some may not be aware of a the Falcon Passport that allows students the chance to participate and improve their knowledge in globally and culturally themed activities. That program allows students the opportunity to be active on campus and in their community. Students receive credit for participation in the program, as well as receive a certificate of completion at the end.
The goals of both Study Abroad and the Falcon Passport are lofty. Regardless of the distance or location, they hope to enable students to become more attuned to the world around them and become advocates for cultural and global acceptance of all diverse people, whether halfway around the world or right here in their community. The most important thing is that the opportunity is there and waiting for those who want it.
For more on DSC’s Study Abroad Program, visit https://www.daytonastate.edu/studyabroad/