Joe Lestrange shares his experiences and observations during Ph.D. program’s Fall Immersion Weekend.
Indiana Tech students have presented original
“I do realize how much I have to be thankful for,”
research “from London to Istanbul and San Francisco
Wegleitner said. “It has widened my view of almost
to China,” he said.
everything. It’s a journey, and it’s one I make, a little bit, in isolation. I think about things so much
“We had a student present at Oxford [University],”
differently than I used to.”
Rauch said. “We had a student present at the Hague. They’ve presented in Dubai and Africa. The list goes
Wegleitner has her eye on Barcelona, Spain, for her
on and on.”
next global practicum.
Wegleitner got a chance to go on a global practicum
She admits the global leadership program was a
to Peru in July. She said it was, among many other
hard sell back home – not with her husband, but
things, a chance to dispel a peculiar loneliness.
with her mother.
“It is difficult to describe, but being a Ph.D. student
“She said, ‘Why would you go back to school
can in some respects be lonely,” she said. “Sure, we
and sacrifice your daughter’s childhood?’ ”
are surrounded by family and friends, but even
Wegleitner recalled.
though they see us doing homework, they just don’t understand the struggles and random things that
She said that while she appreciates the small-town
you view differently now that you are immersed in
perspective of some of the people with whom she
learning about epistemology and other topics that are
grew up, she doesn’t feel the need to emulate it.
difficult to spell. Spending almost two weeks with the other students who were sharing this same journey
“I have been managing my own life since I was in
with me was refreshing.”
high school,” she said. “I paid my own way through college. I told my mom, ‘I understand your mindset
In Peru, Wegleitner was able to experience firsthand
but you should be proud of me.’ ”
stark contrasts between “tourist-based areas,” vistas of unparalleled natural beauty, and scenes
Wegleitner intends to take her husband and 5-year-
of extreme poverty.
old daughter Autumn with her on future trips, as long as those trips don’t interfere with planting or
“What was especially heartbreaking for me as
harvest time. She believes it’s particularly important
a mother,” she said, “was seeing children in such
to take her daughter on a mission trip.
desperate circumstances.” “I want her to see that kids don’t get things like this all She said she came back with a very different notion
over the world,” Wegleitner said. “I don’t want her to
of what it means to be poor.
take anything for granted.”
Indiana Tech Magazine
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