Courtesy of Nikea Williams
Nikea Williams ’04 takes a break from
her work at the Mathari Valley Community Resource
Center, where she studied African community
theater.
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Last
summer, Suzanne Wheeler ’04 set off for the fishing
village of Woe, Ghana, intending to study how the
West African nation’s social beliefs and religion
affected its health care system. Little did she realize
that her work there as an HIV/AIDS educator with two
non-governmental organizations would change her view
of the world forever.
She
will never forget delivering and resuscitating a breach
baby at a women’s clinic. Nor will she forget
one villager’s starved skeletal frame and how
this naked figure called out to her in fluent English
from the roadside, desperate to be noticed. “Everyone
who passed by was pointing and laughing and looking
at me like I was crazy, because I was talking to her,”
she says. She witnessed firsthand how the Ghanaian
culture deals with people in the advanced stages of
HIV/AIDS. “Once they become visibly sick, they’re
pretty much shunned and thrown to the street,”
says Wheeler, a biology and philosophy double major
and a Class Marshal in the College of Arts and Sciences.
“This woman’s family would let her sleep
in their yard, but they wouldn’t feed her. They
wouldn’t care for her. She was pretty much left
to die.”
While
Wheeler’s internship experience may be exceptional
on some levels, many Syracuse University students
who have held internships abroad say their experiences
have had dramatic effects on their perception and
understanding of other people and cultures and on
their interest in them. American students are seeking
international experiences in record numbers, despite
the conflicts—armed and diplomatic—that
the U.S. government is involved in around the globe.
In 2001-02, the number of American students studying
abroad rose 4.4 percent, according to Open Doors
2003, an annual report published by the Institute
of International Education (IIE).
Syracuse
University’s Division of International Programs
Abroad (DIPA) is among the national programs that
showed an increase in study abroad participation,
with 947 students (86 more than the previous year)
enrolled in 2001-02. Of those studying abroad, more
are opting to take internships. For example, the number
of students at SU’s DIPA centers in Florence
and London holding internships has tripled during
the past five years. During 2002-03, nearly half of
the students at SU’s Madrid DIPA center participated
in internships. This trend results from the University’s
efforts to provide students with opportunities to
gain international experience coupled with an emphasis
on practical applications of classroom learning, as
outlined in the University’s Academic Plan. “American
students grapple with understanding our world and
America’s place in it,” Vice Chancellor
and Provost Deborah A. Freund says. “They don’t
understand anti-Americanism, and they are culturally
and practically unprepared to enter a global business
world.”
The
University has also created fund-raising initiatives
to establish scholarships for students seeking international
experiences. Wheeler, for example, received $4,600
as a 2003 recipient of the Mark and Pearle Clements
Internship Award, funded by Mark Clements ’36
and his late wife, Pearle Ness Clements ’35.
The award provides financial support to students who
want to undertake innovative or unusual internships
that link theory and practice, but who are unable
to finance the experience. Administered by the Syracuse
University Internship Program (SUIP), the award ranges
from $2,500 to $5,000 and is given to a select few
juniors and seniors who design an internship, recruit
a faculty sponsor, and make all their own arrangements.
“The Clements awards provide a tremendous opportunity
to ambitious students who want a unique internship
experience tailored to their academic interests,”
says SUIP director Helen Murray, who oversees the
placement of approximately 600 of the 4,500 SU students
in internships each year, including many overseas.
“It would be great to have more support for students
who seek those experiences.”
Many
of the schools and colleges or departments on campus
are committed to finding resources to help students
cover the costs of international internships, especially
for those students who do some legwork first. “One
of my African American studies professors put the
idea in my head to get an internship in Kenya, so
I went home, came up with a proposal, laid out the
costs, and shopped it around campus,” says Nikea
Williams ’04, an African American studies and
television-radio-film double major in the College
of Arts and Sciences and the S.I. Newhouse School
of Public Communications. “I took my proposal
to different schools to see if people would help me
with funding. Eventually, I was funded by the College
of Arts and Sciences and the Division of Student Affairs.”
Williams
spent her winter break working at the Mathari Valley
Community Resource Center in Nairobi, Kenya, and studying
how the Mathari Valley neighborhood and similar ones
use traditional community theater productions to tackle
AIDS and other issues. “African art and politics
are inextricably woven together,” Williams says.
“African community theater explores problems
in the local neighborhood as inspiration for its acting,
songs, dances, and poetry. After the performance,
the audience and actors talk about possible solutions
to the problems and mobilize the people. It’s
very effective, and I’d like American communities
to feel similarly empowered and willing to take action.”
Courtesy of Dan Nowacki
Dan Nowacki ’04 poses with his host family,
who helped him improve his conversational
Spanish.
|
The
trip also held great significance for Williams on
a more personal level. “I’ve always dreamed
of setting foot on the African continent,” she
says. “As an African American and a descendant
of enslaved Africans, I don’t really have a clue
as to my ancestry. Kenyans accepted me because they
saw so many similarities. I became an unofficial Kenyan.”
Like Williams, Dan Nowacki ’04, a computer engineering
major in the L.C. Smith College of Engineering and
Computer Science, sought out an internship abroad
for personal reasons. Nowacki, who had studied Spanish
in high school, wanted to revive his language skills
and immerse himself in another culture. DIPA helped
him find a summer internship at the Solar Energy Institute
at the Technical University of Madrid. The DIPA center
in Madrid also placed him with a host family in a
city apartment. “My host family was great,”
Nowacki says. “They spoke a little English, but
we pretty much tried to speak as much Spanish as possible.
I took the subway to work every day and really felt
like I was part of life in Madrid.”
Although
Nowacki took a daily, two-hour intensive Spanish class
at the Madrid DIPA center, he didn’t interact
much with other SU students. He spent most of his
time with friends he met at the solar energy lab,
where they were creating the next generation of solar
cells. “This was one of my first lab experiences
that focused on research,” Nowacki says. “It’s
certainly different working with professionals and
graduate students who are much more knowledgeable
than my peers. I had never done anything like this.”
After work, he’d go out to dinner with coworkers
or socialize. “There was always plenty to do
outside of the lab—exploring the city, hanging
out with friends, and traveling all over,” he
says. “Because Madrid is basically in the center
of the country, I visited a different area of Spain
each weekend.”
One
of the most striking aspects of Nowacki’s experience
was the contrast between Spanish and American perceptions
of the world. “Sometimes in America we feel like
there’s America and that’s all there is.
The rest of the world is so far away,” he says.
“But living in Europe—partly because of
the geography—people have a much greater sense
of the world around them. I got a much better idea
of what the world thinks. I came back looking at things
in America differently.” Vice Chancellor Freund
says internships are especially good for helping students
learn to understand other people’s perspectives.
“Unlike study-abroad experiences where Americans
still interact quite a bit with each other, international
internships force cultural immersion and lessons are
learned practically through one particular job,”
she says.
For
Clements Internship Award recipient Sarah Young ’04,
appreciating and respecting cultural beliefs that
differ from her own were among the major challenges
of her internship in Jamaica. “I had a lot to
learn about Jamaican culture,” says Young, who
used her experience as an educator with Talking With
Kids About AIDS, a program in Cortland County, New
York, for her internship with UNICEF’s Right
to Know project in Jamaica. “As an AIDS educator,
I knew what worked in my community, but it is different
in Jamaica,” she says. “You can’t just
use a cookie-cutter approach.”
She
worked with a group of teenagers who created a short
public service film about sexuality and AIDS that
was aired on Jamaican television. “The kids chose
what was important to them because the project was
about empowering the youth,” says Young, a social
work major in the College of Human Services and Health
Professions and a University Class Marshal. “I
could sit back, watch the teens lead themselves, and
jump in when it was appropriate to offer some of my
knowledge. From an observational perspective, it was
really cool.”
Other
times, Young played a more direct teaching role, explaining
how the disease is spread and how to use condoms,
and offering information that challenged many Jamaicans’
beliefs about AIDS, homosexuality, and disease. “Homosexuality
is not talked about in Jamaica,” she says. “If
a person who is gay or lesbian is infected with HIV,
then many Jamaicans think God is punishing him or
her for being homosexual. Or if a woman gets infected
from heterosexual contact, it’s her fault. She
is considered promiscuous.”
While
Young does not agree with these beliefs, she admires
the way Jamaicans use their social support network
to fight illness. “When Americans get a cold,
the first thing we do is go to the doctor or get some
medicine,” she says. “In Jamaica, health
is more spiritual. You get sick because you’re
not taking care of yourself or not being positive.
It’s a more holistic culture. From a social work
perspective, it was interesting to see how, when Jamaicans
get sick, they turn to their family, church, and social
support.”
The
internship experience also taught Young some basic
skills in money management and living on her own.
“Not only was it my first time abroad, it was
my first time living by myself and being responsible
for cooking and cleaning and all that kind of stuff,”
says Young, who cut her trip short by a few weeks
when she ran out of money. “I could have budgeted
better. I could have made better choices, but I didn’t
have the skills to do that. Now I do.”
Courtesy of Sarah Young
Sarah Young ’04 shares a smile with her
UNICEF internship supervisor’s daughters
at a national park.
|
Traveling
abroad fosters students’ independence and empowers
them to explore and experience as much of a culture
as they can. Last spring, during a semester abroad
in Strasbourg, France, Amanda Busch ’04 interned
at Le Cinéma L’Odyssée—a small,
independent cinema—to supplement her classroom
learning. “Interning was something I wanted to
do while I was abroad,” says Busch, a magazine
and psychology double major with a French minor in
the Newhouse School and the College of Arts and Sciences.
In addition to enriching her cultural experience,
the internship provided Busch with valuable training
in public relations and magazine writing and editing.
She helped the historic theater produce two mini-magazines.
One featured film reviews, profiles, and movie schedules
and the other, La Lanterne Magique (The
Magic Lantern), was about the theater’s special
film series, which was part of an educational program
for youths. “A highlight was helping with La
Lanterne Magique,” Busch says. Each month,
the children received a magazine about the featured
films and the genre of the movies. “Before the
show, a group of actors would perform a short skit
for the children and explain the film’s premise,”
she says. “I was able to help out and supervise.
This internship gave me an opportunity to speak in
French with the other employees about anything and
everything. We would get into heated debates about
politics, and the discussions were a source of French
culture, too.”
Busch
enjoyed her international experience so much that
she remained overseas after the semester ended to
travel for a month throughout Europe. Then she headed
to London for a five-week internship at the BBC’s
Good Food magazine, which was ideal for her
because it combined her love of cooking with her interest
in magazine production. Busch researched and wrote
short pieces on such topics as where to find the rare
gourmet Somerset cheddar cheese, what to cook in an
African clay pot, and how to throw a Japanese dinner
party. She also was invited to attend editorial board
meetings to observe and participate in brainstorming
sessions and planning. During the planning meeting
for the magazine’s October and November issues,
the editors asked her if she knew a good pumpkin pie
recipe. “My mom happened to be coming to London
to visit me, so we ended up cooking our usual family
recipe in the Good Food kitchen,” she
says. “It was so much fun!” She and her
mother, along with their pumpkin pie recipe, were
featuredin
a two-page spread in the November issue.
 Courtesy
of Amanda Busch
Amanda Busch ’04 and Orlando Murrin,
editor of Good Food, prepare to sample
recipes in the magazine’s test kitchen
in London.
|
As
Busch gears up for graduation, she is confident her
overseas internship experience will set her apart
from other job hunters. In fact, the editors at Good
Food helped start a new magazine aimed at younger,
single readers and asked if she was interested in
staying, or returning to London. “I have to admit,
I thought about calling home and letting my parents
know I wouldn’t be coming back,” she says.
“I would love to return to London and work for
Good Food or, even better, the new magazine.”
For
Wheeler, the experience in Ghana has changed the way
she envisions her future. She says she now better
understands her place in a world that stretches far
beyond her own community, state, and nation. Having
seen the disproportionate distribution of wealth and
resources in the world, she has redefined her life’s
goals. “I realized how much help the villagers
need and how easy it would be, with what is just a
small amount of money in America, to set up a basic
needs clinic in Ghana,” says Wheeler, who sent
the village a large box of condoms, which are extremely
difficult to buy in sub-Saharan Africa. “Another
volunteer and I made a pact to go back and open a
clinic when we graduate from medical school. That’s
my ultimate goal right now. I want to go back so badly.”
