Learn for Life: Summer/Fall 2015

Page 13

HB

PHOTO AT LEF T BY SHANNON AHLSTRAND; TRAVEL PHOTOS BY HB STUDENTS

13

I am a citizen, not of Athens or of Greece,

but of the world. In the end,

the best way to explain Joe Vogel and what he hopes to accomplish as Director of the Center for Global Citizenship at Hathaway Brown may be to simply reference that quote from Socrates, which is stenciled on the wall of his classroom. Vogel, 42, has traveled to more than 60 nations, and is the personification of a global citizen, a man truly at home in the world. And it is this sense of ease—which is underpinned by a ferocious intellect and a roving, promiscuous curiosity—that he strives to impart to HB’s Global Scholars each year.

earn it. When he went to the tropical paradise of Belize, for instance, he skipped its famous beaches. Instead, before he left the United States, he sent a fax to the president of Belize, asking for an audience. “I have no interest in the beach and sand,” he says. “What better way to understand a country than by meeting with its president?”

The Global Scholars program is a four-year, comprehensive elective in which students investigate pressing global issues that range from economics and politics to foreign policy. In their senior year, each scholar writes an ambitious 25- to 40-page thesis in one of several capstone courses. Despite its rigor—students must take four years of a global language, pass a comprehensive geography exam, defend their capstone thesis before a committee, and participate in at least one overseas trip—the overwhelming majority of HB students will graduate with a Global Scholar diploma designation. And Joe Vogel is a large part of what attracts students to the program.

It’s all there in that one anecdote—the drive, the intellectual curiosity, the desire to learn, to know—all the sparks that he wants to ignite in the young students who flock to his Global Scholars program at HB. And there’s one other thing he tries to impart: a sense of humility. Vogel is the opposite of the Ugly American. He visits countries that are poor, dirty, and dysfunctional, with not a trace of Western superiority. Whether he is in Uzbekistan or Yemen or Laos, he is there not to teach the locals; he is there to learn from them. “It has to do with humility, an open mind and not being judgmental,” he says, the dark eyes shining with passion. “And a love for the complexity of the world.”

It was a long, circuitous route that brought Vogel to HB, but in hindsight, it seems as if he has spent his life auditioning for his current role. His father was a history buff and Vogel’s home in Akron was filled with objects from around the world, including a photograph of King Hussein of Jordan, autographed to Vogel’s dad. The wanderlust bit Vogel early, during a high school trip to Austria and Germany accompanied by his German teacher, at a time when the first cracks had already appeared in the Berlin Wall. Vogel and two other students traveled with their teacher on a nostalgic tour of the Berlin apartment where she’d lived during World War II. He was hooked. “I wanted to do this forever,” he recalls. And thus began a life of travel. He earned a degree in political science from Grove City College in Pennsylvania. And then he traveled. In 1995, he joined the Summit County Prosecutor’s Child Support Enforcement Agency as a caseworker. In his free time, he traveled. But no matter where he went, Vogel never saw himself as a tourist. When he visited a country, he wanted to understand it, to learn it, to

As it turned out, the president wasn’t available. So Vogel hung out with the Attorney General and the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Belize.

Indeed, differences in cultures don’t scare him; they excite him. “For so many people, this (way of life) is so normal. And if it’s normal for them, it’s normal for me. I’ve never felt like an outsider, no matter where I’ve gone,” he says. That even includes the region in Yemen where Osama bin Laden’s family lived and where Vogel visited in 1998. “It was very tribal. And I’ve never felt more like an honored guest.” Overseas travel is an integral part of the Global Scholars program and every student has to take at least one trip abroad in order to graduate from the rigorous program. The Center for Global Citizenship offers roughly 10 travel opportunities a year, most of them to the developing world, and more than a quarter of HB’s students go abroad each year. While the country they go to may differ, as may the focus of their program—literature, the performing arts, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) or development issues—what the students share is their attitude toward the countries they visit. Continued on page 15.


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