Course Description
Through an immersive travel experience, students are provided a forum for critical reflection on community-driven service, intercultural experiences, power and privilege, and critical global engagement. Students will explicitly link personal experience, assignments and discussions that explore the following broad themes: personal values & ethics, service in a cross-cultural context, global engagement, and communicating and staying engaged after the post-cultural immersion.
Much of Puerto Rico was devastated by Hurricane Maria in 2017, leaving communities an opportunity to rebuild with some support from federal aid (FEMA), humanitarian support from other organizations and individuals, and through their own ingenuity. This course will focus on the communities surrounding the El Yunque National Forest in eastern Puerto Rico and assess the various ways they are building resiliency despite a legacy of colonialism and the increasing intensities of climate change impacts. Through partnerships with Centro para la Conservación del Paisaje, and other organizations working to establish a UN Regional Center of Expertise in eastern Puerto Rico, our class will create a community resiliency report card to support their work. We will gain cultural understanding by working on smaller, daily service projects that our community hosts need.
Any questions, send them my way!
~Christina
Christina Erickson, Ph.D. (she/her)
Director of Service & Sustainability Learning
Center for Service & Sustainability, Champlain College
Office Location: Skiff Annex 203 || Campus Box #20 || Mailing Address: PO Box 670, Burlington, VT 05402
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