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Summer Adventures with Study Abroad
Liz Yaros of International Programs
Wonder what your friends and favorite fac
ulty members will be up to this summer? Meredith
is offering five exciting summer programs in addi
tion to the many independent trips that students
and faculty members will be taking to study and do
research. Rising junior Kristen Gallagher will be
traveling to Cambodia on a trip organized by CIEE.
She says: “I wanted to study in a place that seemed
unconventional, unique and completely new to me.
I don’t want to take my preconceived ideas. I want
to take an open mind.” Rising senior Jennifer Prince
will be traveling to India, she says of her upcom
ing experience: “After reading this year’s summer
reading book, “Half the Sky,” I knew that I wanted
to study abroad in a non-western country and be in
a program that focused on service learning, social
justice, and women’s issues. In a meeting with Liz
Yaros in the Office of International Programs, I was
introduced to the program in Pondicherry, India
that had all that I wanted in a study abroad program.
The thing that sealed the deal was that HIS 312:
India: Past and Present was being offered this se
mester, giving me an opportunity to learn about the
history and culture of India before embarking on my
program. I couldn’t be more excited and can’t wait to
arrive in India on July 3rd!”
Other students will be joining Meredith
faculty members on the trips detailed below. With
course on topics ranging from warfare in western
history to Icelandic literature, from French fashion
to Italian design, and from Tropical Ecosystems to
advanced Spanish, participating Meredith students
are sure to have exciting experiences this summer.
Look at the programs below and the trip websites,
and start thinking about possible study abroad jour
neys in your future! If you’re a student going on one
of these trips, enjoy!
Italy/Switzerland/UK
http://www.meredith.edu/abroad/summer-italy.
htm
Dr. Greg Vitarbo & Dr. Jim Waddelow (Italy/Switz)
Dr. Betty Webb, Professor John Rose & Catherine
Rodgers (UK)
Iceland
http: //www. meredith.edu/abroad/iceland.htm
Dr. Michael Novak & Dr. Eloise Grathwohl
Paris, France
http://www.meredith.edu/abroad/summer-france.
htm
Dr. Diane Ellis
Eat, Play, Design (in Sansepolcro, Italy)
http: / / www.meredith.edu/abroad/italy_digital_im-
aging.htm
Dr. Kathryn Clark & Dr. Ellen Goode
Costa Rica: Tropical Ecosystems and Costa
Rica: Language and Culture
http://www.meredith.edu/abroad/CostaRica.htm
Dr. Erin Lindquist & Professor Callie DeBellis
A Journey Comes to Meredith
Emery Lai, Staff Writer
Enrique’s Journey by Sonia Nazario has been chosen
for the 2011 Meredith College Summer Reading Program. En
rique’s Journey was selected for the program to tie into the
campus’s theme for the upcoming year, “Uncommon Choic
es.” In fact, it is now the required reading book for incoming
freshman not only at Meredith College but at many other col
leges and high schools across the United States as well.
“We are thrilled to have another interesting and
thought provoking summer reading book for the Meredith
community to read together,” says Meredith College Summer
Reading Program committee member Christina Bumgardner.
“His epic journey is one that
many immigrant children make
each year in order to find their
mothers in the United States.”
Enrique’s Journey is the story of a boy named Enrique
who lives with his mother, Lourdes, and his siblings in Hon
duras. When she finds herself unable to feed her children,
Lourdes leaves Honduras and goes to the United States where
she finds work and sends what little money she makes back
to her family so that they can eat properly and attend school.
Over the next eleven years, Enrique hears from his mother
by telephone and begs her to come back home. He is lonely
and scared, but she tells him he must be patient. Thinking
he may never see his mother again, he decides to go search
ing for her himself with little more than a slip of paper with
her phone number on it. Enrique’s journey consists of try
ing to get through Mexico to the United States; he succeeds
by clutching the sides and tops of freight trains. Enrique has
many obstacles to overcome, however, as he has to get past
bandits, gangsters and even corrupt cops. His epic journey is
one that many immigrant children make each year in order to
find their mothers in the United States.
The author of Enrique’s Journey, Sonia Nazario, is an
award-winning journalist and has written about many problems
the United States faces today, such as immigration, hunger, and
drug addiction. When Enrique’s Journey was first written in
2003, it was an article that won more than a dozen awards, most
notably the Pulitzer Prize. Once the story had been expanded into
a book, it won two book awards as well. As for Nazario, according
to Hispanic Business Magazine, she.is one of the most influential
Latinos today. Hispanic Magazine calls her a “trendsetter.”
“Sonia Nazario will be on campus to meet with students
and serve as the first speaker in NCBCBS Presidential Lecture Se
ries on Monday, August 29,” says Bumgardner. “We encourage all
members of the campus community to read this year’s book and
take advantage of the related activities and events.”
For more information regarding Enrique’s Journey and/or
Sonia Nazario, please visit http://www.enriquesjourney.com/in-
dex.html.
ENRIQUE’S JOURNEY
STORY liOVS OAXOf ROUS OpYSSf V RT:1.:?XITI‘ .iAA h:- MOTHER
bv Sonii!,
“Thiij is a twenl'f'l»r5t-cenl»ry Odyswry. illumirtatiffi
of Ihe darkest stofJes 5n ««r country. This is outstanding ioumelism.
If you are going to read only one nswi-flction book this year, it has to be this one,
. because ycv kn&w these young heroes. They live next doof.^
image via www.enriquesjourney.com