Personal Development Agnes Scott Encourages Students to Learn About the World—and Themselves

BY KIA SMITH

One of the hallmarks of a liberal arts education is the opportunity to study multiple, and perhaps seemingly unrelated, disciplines. As an economics major and German studies minor, Jaya Vivian ’25 wasn’t expecting to be able to incorporate both of her interests into her Sophomore Class Atlanta Leadership Experience (SCALE) at Agnes Scott College. Then she found out she’d be spending her externship with the German American Chamber of Commerce.

“I was really excited,” Vivian says. “I didn’t realize I could find work in Atlanta that combined economics, German language and German cultural competency.”

SCALE is a key component of Agnes Scott’s signature SUMMIT curriculum, which includes co-curricular experiences that encourage students to explore and engage with the world around them. In doing so, students gain valuable personal and professional skills and knowledge they need to thrive in college and beyond.

A Journey Like No Other

Agnes Scott students begin their exploration early with Global Journeys, a first-year, second-semester course. Throughout the course, students examine globalization; identity and culture; colonialism and imperialism; and the ethics of travel. Each section studies a different part of the world, and as part of the Global Journeys experience, students travel together to their destination for an eight-day, faculty-led trip. Recent trips include Morocco, Ghana, Northern Ireland, the Navajo Nation and Peru.

“These immersive excursions are often outside the United States, but in some cases, they are actually within the U.S.,” says Laura Ochs, director of global learning. “This program is embedded into every student’s experience. It’s fully funded by the college, not the student, so it is 100% inclusive, accessible and an opportunity that we purposefully want to provide for all students.”

Vivian traveled to Marseille, France, a port city on the Mediterranean coast, for her Global Journeys experience.

“I was interested in French politics, particularly the French ideas surrounding religious freedom, and Marseille is a very religiously diverse part of France,” she says. “The experience definitely made me feel more secure in my ability to intersect economics with my interest in international relations.”

Students also take steps to develop cultural humility during the Global Journeys course.

“We realize that putting 250 people on a plane has

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“As a freshman, my Global Journey to Morocco marked the start of an extraordinary academic journey that spanned four continents and six countries. Following graduation, I continued my international travel, this time as a professional, to seven countries on four continents. My goal is to continue to soak up the diverse experiences that life has to offer on all six continents.” an environmental impact, so we talk very explicitly about how we’re not just going as tourists,” says Ochs. “We’re going to have a purpose, to meet communities, to understand people’s lives, to learn about a culture that’s different from our own, and to learn what that means for our culture and our value system.”

While most colleges target advanced students for international excursions, Agnes Scott has been intentional about placing the Global Journeys program early in students’ academic experience.

“We’ve taken this global, immersive experience and put it right in the middle of the first year to give students that exposure quickly and to help them build the foundation of knowledge and cultural experience that is going to underline the rest of their Agnes Scott career,” Ochs says. “We believe it’s so powerful that it needs to go up front, that everybody needs to have it, and that it’s going to inform everything else students do moving forward.”

Exploring Closer To Home

During their sophomore year, students build on their Global Journeys learnings with SCALE, a program that allows students to study, observe and shadow Atlanta leaders for a week.

“We scaffold their learning by connecting students with Atlanta organizations and partners, many of whom have a global span and reach,” says Heather Scott ’99, former assistant dean of inclusive leadership curriculum and co-curriculum for SUMMIT. “Our students have already had a taste of leadership through a global lens, and now they’re bringing it back to Atlanta, where they begin to recognize that these organizations are impacted and affected by a global world. This is all occurring in sophomore year when students declare their academic majors, so it’s also setting them up to explore post-Agnes Scott experiences through that academic discipline lens.”

Vivian’s experience is quite common for SCALE participants. Students often identify new opportunities or discover hidden strengths through the program.

“They get into the organization, they meet with these leaders, and their way of thinking is expanded,” Scott says. “After the SCALE experience, we hear a lot of students saying, ‘Wow, I never saw myself going into this particular area, but maybe I could end up working at a Mercedes-Benz or Porsche Cars of North America.’ Their horizons are really broadened.”

Both Global Journeys and SCALE empower students to confront the intellectual and social challenges of their times.

“You can’t effect change if you don’t have a broad perspective of different ways of knowing, being and doing. Opportunities like SCALE and Global Journeys provide students with access, and access is very important in terms of getting a full scope for a student’s learning progression,” Scott says. “The more students engage with different ways of learning and different ways of seeing the world, the more likely they are to be able to couple that academic learning and what they’re getting in their academic disciplines with how they can effect change after graduation. We’re setting them up for professional success and to be lifelong learners by heightening their critical-thinking skills and capacities for leadership.”