Class Trip to South Africa Is Opportunity for Student Service

For Allison Peter and Ryan Jancsy, two Isenberg students who had just completed their freshman year, the most memorable moments of their 18-day class trip to South Africa in May came from helping children plant shade trees at a school outside Cape Town. "It's super-hot there in the summer; the land around the school is flat and exposed, shade is critical," recalled Peter. "We ate lunch with the kids and played games with them," added Jancsy. "They sang to us; we bonded with them."

In a post-trip survey, the 18 Isenberg students ranked the service project as their top experience. When asked how to improve future overseas class trips, they were decisive: "We want to do more service."

Isenberg's undergraduate dean Linda Shea is taking that advice to heart: "I want to build service opportunities into all of our overseas class trips," she emphasizes. The South Africa trip, which is linked to the course, Ubuntu & Business in South Africa, is one of several course-based international study options at Isenberg. Others focus on China, Ireland, Italy, India, the United Kingdom, and France.

Citizens First. Course-travel options that include service projects, continues Shea, fit naturally under the umbrella of Isenberg's Citizens First Program, which, according to the undergraduate dean, "instills a mindset of responsible citizenship, of gratitude, of helping others. Our aim is to build habits of helpfulness in one's home or dorm, in communities, and in places of business," she emphasizes. When students demonstrate that commitment throughout their years at Isenberg, they receive a Citizens First certificate honoring their accomplishments. But Citizen's First is not a top-down initiative. Above all, notes Shea, it reflects tremendous demand among Isenberg students for community involvement.

On the South Africa trip, the students and their course leaders, Michael Schurter and Christina Monte, visited business and cultural venues in and around Johannesburg and Cape Town. They went behind the scenes at a leading marketing agency, a human resources firm, and the accounting firm, Deloitte. They toured a diamond mine, a winery, and a brewery. They also visited game reserves, Cape Town Soccer Stadium, and Robben Island, where Nelson Mandela spent 18 years in prison.

Toward the trip's end, the students spent a day in Soweto Township, the incubator of the anti-apartheid movement. "It was full of recent history and we were able to connect with people living there," recalled Jancsy. "We got a sense of what life was like in a real neighborhood." "Before Soweto, we had spent most of our time in upscale areas," added Allison Peter. "Walking around in Soweto showed us a different story. It was humbling." That made the students' service project the next day all the more compelling, she said. "For me, the South African trip was life changing," she remarked.  Jancsy concurred: "Almost two months later I can't stop talking about it."