Becoming a global citizen — a worthy but underappreciated goal — is the subject of one experiential learning class at The University of Akron this semester.
Common Hope (Guatemala): Global Citizenship Colloquium is both an honors colloquium and an unclass — a for-credit experiential learning class. It is organized and taught by Juan Contreras, a professor of practice in our School of Communication.
John Skakun is one of the UA students who plans to volunteer with nonprofit Common Hope Guatemala in January.
The purpose of the class is to encourage students to examine their unique place in the global context and become more aware of people from different backgrounds and circumstances than their own. Students can enroll in the course regardless of their major, past experience, or plans for the future.
Intercultural communication skills
“A student who is working toward a degree in engineering may someday wish to work in another country,” says Contreras. “Other students never leave their local ‘bubble,’ but even they will encounter refugees and displaced individuals. Meeting people from around the world isn’t an option, it is an inevitability. That is why it remains important that students learn intercultural communication skills now.”
The class invites speakers from a number of disciplines to share their wisdom and experiences with international communities. They will address short term visitors, permanent immigrants, refugees and more.
“We will have, for example, a speaker from the Summit County Health Department with unique insight into the processes and procedures for working with refugee populations, as well as some of the stereotypes and struggles that these groups face,” Contreras says.
New perspectives emerge
Students are tasked with keeping a journal to document their experiences and the new perspectives they have been introduced to in the class, and the consider how everything they are learning comes together to impact their own degree fields.
The semester concludes with an optional trip to Guatemala with nonprofit Common Hope Guatemala to volunteer at schools and clinics, build a house and visit families in need, utilizing the skills the students learned in the class. Many students are looking forward to this opportunity. Some are even using social media to raise awareness and funds on the University of Akron Common Hope Team on Facebook.
► Story by Erica Cantrell
► Media contact: Dan Minnich, 330-972-6476 or dminnich@uakron.edu.