BADGERnews
a magical journey
snow students participate in u.s./colombia exchange By Mitch Jenkins, Snow College Service Learning Coordinator Colombia is the land of magical realism; a full explanation of that topic will be saved for another article, perhaps from the English department, but Colombia certainly is a magical place. On a recent trip to that beautiful country, Snow College students and faculty learned firsthand the magic and splendor of the country. The trip was initiated by a 100,000 Strong in the Americas grant, supported by a partnership among the U.S. Department of State, Partners of the Americas, and NAFSA: Association of International Educators.
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The great people of Servicio Nacional de Aprendizaje (SENA) hosted the trip. SENA is Colombia’s publicly funded community college system, providing free post-high-school educational opportunities to its citizens. We were greeted at the Medellin International Airport by our wonderful hosts and, for the next week and a half, toured SENA facilities in Medellin, Itagui, and Santa Fe de Antioquia. Snow College students participated in once-in-a-lifetime opportunities to learn, share, and serve in ways only found in global engagement and service learning. Snow students
participated in cane sugar production at a small facility perched high on an Andean hillside. They worked on an eco-farm in the semi-arid Cordillera, a branch of the Andes. Time was spent picking limes, mangos, and other tropical fruit and, of course, enjoying the freshest juices on earth! After leaving the rural Colombian countryside, students helped with English translation of tools and processes at SENA’s exclusive Luthier School located in Itagui, a suburb of Medellin. Snow students enjoyed association with Colombian students and SENA instructors, seeing furniture design come to life and learning the incredible diversity found in Colombia with the hundreds of tropical tree species used in construction and furniture making. Bright and forward-thinking people put this trip together. Special thanks to instructors Alex Peterson and English Brooks, the great students of their Community Engagement and Service Learning class, and also our SENA hosts for showing us the magical city of Medellin, the beautiful Parque Regional Arvi, and the incredible educational facilities of SENA. This was the perfect educational experience!
1. Christian Fales picking fresh limes. 2. Watching sunset over Rio Cauca River. 3. Walking to cacao fields. 4. Kyla Swain, Damon Swain and Liliana Lopez (SENA professor) overlooking Medellín. 5. Eco-tourism farm near Santa Fe de Antioquia. 6. Abigail Lyons refining brown sugar or panela. 7. Downtown Medellín. 8. Snow College students participate in furniture design class. 9. Bougainvillea blooms.
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