The Center for Global Engagement unveils slate of activities for International Education Month
Kirsten Sheppard was a junior high student growing up in Calgary, Alberta, when she first traveled abroad, and today the director of the Maryville College Center for Global Engagement wants to give MC students the same sense of wonder and adventure she felt upon seeing the world for the first time.
“We traveled throughout Europe and to Egypt, and as part of that, I had to write papers and learn about the places I was going,” Sheppard said. “That was the trip that opened my eyes to travel.”
One of the tools at her disposal is International Education Month, taking place through the end of March and bringing a multicultural flair to the MC campus. It’s an outgrowth of International Education Week, a U.S. Department of State initiative that takes place every November. For the College’s purposes, observing a single week right before Thanksgiving, when young minds are focused on impending exams and the forthcoming holiday break, didn’t work well.
In 2020, the Center for Global Engagement — which works with international students who want to study in the United States, and with American students who desire to study or intern abroad — moved the observance to January. In 2021, because Spring Break was removed from the academic calendar to discourage long-distance travel to and from campus in order to reduce the risk of COVID-19, bringing the world to campus proved to be a good fit, Sheppard said.
A new tradition at MC
The activities last year were so popular, Sheppard and her staff decided to keep International Education Month as a March observance.
“We were able to provide students with opportunities to explore different places while allowing them to remain on campus,” she said. “That’s the other part of what we do at the Center for Global Engagement — we integrate meaningful international experiences into the curriculum and campus life. There are many students who come to Maryville College where this is the first opportunity they’ve had to get to know people different from them.
“That’s one of the reasons we bring international students to campus, to build global confidence and understanding between people. Them being here provides all students with the benefits of an international education, and that connection is important. We’re trying to provide opportunities to get people exposed to cultural differences and learn to communicate effectively with other people, and International Education Month is one way to do that.”
Some of the events taking place on campus as part of the initiative:
- “Ukraine in Context,” a roundtable discussion and panel presentation by faculty members of the Division of Social Sciences and Division of Humanities, which took place March 4, in Lawson Auditorium of Fayerweather Hall;
- An international dance party that was organized on March 5, in Isaac’s Cafe on the second floor of Bartlett Hall;
- A global cooking class presented by Metz Culinary Dining, the on-campus dining services company, scheduled for 11 a.m. Wednesday, March 23;
- “Biking the World for Climate Change,” a Global+ speaker presentation by journalist and author Devi Lockwood at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 23; and
- Holi, a spring festival that will take place on the lawn of Pearsons Hall on the MC campus at 3:30 p.m. March 29.
MC students can ‘Explore the World’ on campus
In addition, cultural cuisine will be featured from around the world on Tuesdays in the Margaret Ware Dining Room of Pearsons Hall, and a number of workshops for students will take place that encourage international study, Sheppard added. In addition, the Global+ “Explore the World” campaign features various divisions and departments on campus showcasing different countries through displays that include photos, trivia, maps, flags and cultural artifacts. Students are encouraged to take a selfie with one of the displays, tag the @mcscotsabroad Instagram account and use the hashtag #MCexploretheworld to take part in prize drawings.
“Our theme for this year is #ZerotoTravel, which was inspired by a podcast called ‘Zero to Travel,’” she said. “We’re in a unique place in time, trying to creep our way out of a pandemic, and we’re in a phase where we’re relaunching education abroad initiatives. This month is focused on that — exposing students to global learning through food, through celebration, through dance. We’re giving them a taste of culture in different ways on campus by exposing them to new ideas and aspects of culture.”
Doing so, she added, provides MC students with diverse experiences that make them more knowledgeable, and more compassionate, individuals. And for those who seize the opportunity to study abroad, it’s often life-changing — as she discovered from personal experience.
“We see students study abroad and come back to Maryville College, and they’re whole new people,” she said. “The belief in themselves, the language skills, the confidence they have from living in and navigating a new place — a lot of them come back feeling like it was transformational, and they spend the rest of the time they’re here on campus reflecting on that and figuring out how to put that into action in their futures.”
