UC Clermont Students Travel to Sri Lanka

Six University of Cincinnati students and two UC Clermont College English professors spent three weeks in Sri Lanka as part of an Intermediate Composition class taught by UC Clermont’s Amy Abafo at the end of the spring semester. This innovative experiential course combined research, writing, study abroad and service. While in Sri Lanka, students stayed with a local family, explored ruins and rainforest and volunteered with Volunteer Sri Lanka, a nonprofit organization in the city of Galle on the southern coast of the island.

Abafo, assistant director of the Learning Center at UC Clermont, was inspired to take students to the country because of her stay in the country 25 years ago as a Peace Corps volunteer. There she met Punya Mahawithana, whose family hosted the students in Sri Lanka. The students developed a strong relationship with Mahawithana and her family. The group stayed in Mahawithana’s home where they ate home-cooked Sri Lankan meals, enjoyed a traditional dance show and traveled to ancient ruins with Mahawithana and her family.

“Sri Lanka opened my eyes to the world," said political science student Miranda Kelly. "Not only did this service learning trip allow me to explore and discover this inspiring country, but it also allowed me to discover myself. The sites we saw and the memories made only happen once in a life time, if you are lucky. I cannot imagine a more life changing and riveting trip than the University of Cincinnati service-learning trip to Sri Lanka.”

Spending a week with Volunteer Sri Lanka was a core component of the trip and something that the students will remember the most. Projects included helping at a Montessori preschool that serves street children, teaching conversational English to nursing students and Muslim schoolchildren, working with at-risk teenage girls at a state-run girls’ home and tending to babies at an orphanage. “The orphanage has my heart," said student Kara Kemper. "It was a humanizing experience.”

Some students vow to return to Sri Lanka to volunteer once again with Volunteer Sri Lanka. “I will definitely be back," said student Katherine Berberich. "I want to bring people back and show them. I love those girls at the girls’ home. I came in thinking I would help them and impact them, but I think they have impacted all of us much more than I ever expected.”

This Sri Lanka program supports UC’s 2019 goal of increasing the number of students who participate in experiential-learning programs, including service learning and study abroad. In addition, the course seeks to attract UC Clermont students, who have been significantly underrepresented in study abroad programs.

“Many UC Clermont students are nontraditional and/or first-generation college students who historically have not taken advantage of study abroad programs," said Megan Shepherd, UC Clermont adjunct professor of English, who served as a faculty mentee to Abafo and will lead the trip in 2015. "And by offering the Sri Lanka Study Abroad/Service Learning program (through the Intermediate Composition English 2089 class), we seek to attract these students and give them an opportunity that will change their lives and positively impact their education and future careers.” While the goal is to target UC Clermont students, any student can take this course, thus increasing the number of UC students as a whole participating in study abroad programs.

The course will run again in spring 2015, and student applications are currently being accepted. In addition to the study-abroad/service-learning aspect, students also write about their experience and perform individual research writing and publishing projects. Through participation in this course, students develop digital media, digital literacy and cross-cultural communication skills that will make them very competitive in today’s globally interconnected and technology-driven job market, furthering the long-term educational value of this experience. This program increases Clermont College's reputation as an innovative branch campus committed to student learning.

For more information about the class or trip to Sri Lanka in 2015, visit http://www.uc.edu/webapps/ucosmic/programs/detail.aspx?id=246 or contact: Megan Shepherd megan.shepherd@uc.edu or Brittney Smith at Brittney.smith@uc.edu or 556-1261.