3/14/12
January Term (J-term) offers R-MC students the opportunity to explore the world, a career, or a single subject in depth.
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Spanish Professor Patricia Reagan: "The trip provided
an experience that went beyond
the opportunities available to tourists." |
Randolph-Macon College
Spanish Professor Patricia Reagan traveled with her Central American Culture and Civilization students and alumnus
Thomas Cantwell ’61 to San José, Costa Rica during
J-term 2012. Students spent two weeks on campus preparing for the service-learning trip.
“They learned about the Spanish-speaking countries of Central America and topics such as indigenous issues, the Panama Canal, the Central American Free Trade Agreement, poverty, gangs, Catholicism/Liberation Theology and, of course,
el futbol (soccer),” says Reagan.
Click on R-MC in Costa Rica for a slideshow of photos from the trip.Because a major objective of the course is to provide an immersion experience, Reagan placed each student with a local family for the duration of the two-week trip and structured her in-country instruction for community service. All of the students were either Spanish majors or minors.
“The purpose of the service component is to bring alive the Central American culture,” says Reagan. “The trip provided an experience that went beyond the opportunities available to tourists, and it helped build language skills.”
Students worked at the
Escuela Ana Frank (the Ana Frank School) near San José, teaching English and computer programming to children, conducting sociological family studies, teaching parents how to budget their money, and conducting medical evaluations.
“Escuela Ana Frank is funded by the German YMCA,” says Reagan. “Most of the ‘employees’ are German volunteers, and the school services about 50 children. In addition to day care and after-school care, the school provides support for families through classes and outreach programs.” Reagan explained the circumstances under which many of the children live.
“Most are children of illegal Nicaraguan immigrants whose parents work several jobs with very low pay. Five to eight people live in one-bedroom houses, and in some of the surrounding neighborhoods neither taxis nor police will enter because of crime. All of the area schools receive funding so that the children can receive one hot meal a day. Most of the kids we saw wore the same clothes and the same worn-out shoes every day.”
JoAnne Longo ’12, a Spanish major and member of the
Pre-med program, enjoyed working with the children. Longo served as team leader for the medical examinations.
“It felt great to be able to do something positive during the trip,” says Longo. “I know that the children truly benefited from our time with them. It was also fun to just hang out and play soccer with them when we had some free time.”
International Studies major
Megan Harris ’12 sent
blog entries to R-MC during the trip. Her observations reflect both the challenges and rewards of life as a traveler in Costa Rica.
“Yesterday my group gave the children medical checkups, and I had to learn phrases such as
Take off your shoes or
Stand up straight,” she wrote. “My host mother doesn’t speak any English…at times it is very hard for me.” In another blog entry, she wrote:
“We have visited an extremely poor neighborhood, seen indigenous ruins and the La Paz Waterfalls, taken Latin dance and cooking classes, and gone ziplining,” she wrote. “In Costa Rica the poor form a community and create beautiful items to sell. Even though the neighborhood is very dangerous, they built a community center for the children to go to when they aren’t in school. It is truly an inspiration.” Harris presented her findings on the health of the children to the director of the San Jose YMCA.
“I gave him an overall picture using the Body Mass Index (BMI),” she wrote. “I was nervous about presenting because I had to speak in Spanish. I thought they might laugh at me…but they were nice and helped me. The director was really appreciative and told us that we were the first volunteers to make such a difference.”
Sociology Professor Reber Dunkel, coordinator of Students Engaged in Responsible Volunteer Experiences (
SERVE), says, "Our students’ zest for immersing themselves in a poor Costa Rican community underscores the mutually beneficial outcomes of experiential education overseas. Professor Reagan demonstrated the success of her students improving their Spanish skills by having them live with local families and learning to navigate their way around the Spanish-speaking world as they worked with children at the Ana Frank School. Hearing about their enthusiasm and accomplishments renews my faith in our students."
In planning the trip, Reagan says she wanted to provide students with as many opportunities as possible.
“I knew the students would have an opportunity to serve, but I also wanted them to experience the beautiful country that is Costa Rica: volcanoes, biodiversity, mountains, beaches, wildlife. The students learned about and lived the history of Costa Rica and meshed with the people of Central America in a way that would not have been possible if we had stayed on campus. They had a great time and not only learned a lot about the culture, but also about themselves.”
About the SERVE Program
Randolph-Macon College has a longstanding tradition of community service. The Students Engaged in Responsible Volunteer Experiences (SERVE) program, in the Office of Student Life, is an integral part of Randolph-Macon’s Leadership Development and Service Initiative.
In 2010-11, R-MC students collectively amassed almost 8,000 volunteer hours. Nearly 50 students spent an alternative Spring Break in Florida for a combined 950 hours with Habitat for Humanity and 130 hours for a Haiti Relief project. Students in R-MC’s Greek organizations contributed more than 4,500 hours of collective service to the community, collected 550 pounds of canned food, donated 60 inches of hair to Locks of Love, 21 toys to Toys for Tots and generous funds to various organizations. In addition, money was raised on campus and donated to the Red Cross & Partners in Health for the Haiti Earthquake Relief.