Fairytale change

Whenever a student leaves campus, travels across an ocean and lands in a foreign country, change is inevitable. But for one JMU senior, that change ended with a wholly unexpected honor. JMU Communications intern Emily Tait (’15) tells the story of her classmate, Kate Landes (’15)…..

“Praktikum in Deutschland”

By Emily Tait (’15)

The Study Abroad program at JMU is one of the university’s many positive attributes. With semesters offered anywhere from Australia ranging across all of Europe, students have the opportunity to experience education in all corners of the world. Through complete immersion in a foreign way of life, JMU students are able to grow not just intellectually, but also emotionally and culturally. Study Abroad creates opportunities of a lifetime that are often many students’ favorite memories from their time at JMU.

Kate Landes (’15) was able to have a firsthand encounter of Study Abroad through JMU’s Germany Music program. Although this program has been running for 12 years, Landes was the first music industry major to embark on this trip to Germany. While there, she participated in an internship with the administration in the Middle-Saxony Opera House in Freiberg.

During her time abroad, Landes mainly worked with the production crew of the Theater Freiberg and helped set up microphones, amps and soundboards for various shows, including the opera, Die Zigeunerbaron. In addition to this, Landes attended rehearsals with the prestigious Bergmusikkorps Saxonia Freiberg, a local community band, and played her French horn alongside them at one of Freiberg’s festivals, the Bergstadfest.

One of the traditions of the festival is to hold a parade in the streets of Freiberg that ends with a ceremony and concert in the Obermarkt, which is the “upper market.” Landes was asked to march in this parade with the Bergmusikkorps Saxonia Freiberg, and — little did she know — it would end with her reception of one of the greatest honors from the city.

Becoming an honorary citizen of Freiberg

“The director, Roland Achtziger, made an announcement in front of all these people stating that the Bergmusikkorps Saxonia Freiberg has a very special guest this year — an international student from America. Suddenly, I became red in the face and tears filled my eyes as I stepped forward on stage in front of thousands of people. The next thing I knew, they were conducting a traditional ceremony for me known as the ‘Arschledersprung.’ [At the end of the ceremony] I was given some gifts and a certificate that I had completed the ‘Arschledersprung’ and was now an honorary [citizen] of Freiberg.”

Having had a taste of true German culture, Landes’ experience abroad was one that is truly irreplaceable. She pioneered the Germany Music program for future music industry majors at JMU, and certainly left a lasting, positive impact on the city of Freiberg.

“I worked so incredibly hard every single day and got an amazing experience from all the aspects of an opera house. No words can correctly describe how I feel about my internship in Freiberg. It was truly a fairytale.”

Why she flew back

Sara Jo and new Daraja graduate Leila

Before Sara Jo Malinske (’13) graduated from JMU last May, her plane ticket was bought, her after-graduation plans solidified. She was headed back to Kenya.

The prior summer Sara Jo had studied abroad through the university’s international program, “JMU in Kenya.” During the two-week volunteer opportunity at the end of her Study Abroad, she connected with Daraja, a school for girls, located near Nanyuki. Landing back at JFK afterward, her immediate thought was “how do I get back to Kenya.”

So with diploma in hand, Sara Jo headed back to a place and people she had come to love.

Daraja, a word in Swahili meaning ‘bridge,’ is a four-year old secondary boarding school for young Kenyan girls. Here bright, young girls are given what Sara Jo calls “equality of opportunity.”

The culture of Kenya, like so many places in the world, values boys above girls. It’s cultural — and it’s deeply embedded, Sara Jo says. Education is also highly sought in Kenya and expensive, particularly secondary education. When a family manages to scrape together money for a child to attend school, most often a son is chosen. Even when a family of all daughters finds the money for education, they will often opt to send a neighbor’s son instead of their own daughter.

Daraja is trying to change that.

The school, a nonprofit, offers full scholarships to 26 girls each year and is funded entirely through donations and fundraising. To find the right girls, the school’s administrators tour the country looking for girls with academic promise, leadership skills — and no other way to attend school.

“They take the girls who fall through the cracks,” Sara Jo says.

Daraja’s Class of 2013

Many of these young girls come from traumatic circumstances, often suffering poverty or abuse. “They all have stories that will break your heart,” she says, “but in the end, they are just teenage girls.”

Sara Jo’s favorite part of her Kenyan time was hanging out with them every chance she had. And learning to know the girls was her catalyst for returning to Kenya.  On her first night in Kenya, she was told that some visitors come and see the poverty, the problems; others see the connection. “I was one of those,” she says. “I had a real pulling feeling.”

She was amazed by the girls she met. They love school, she says. “They’re in classes all morning and afternoon, and additional forums in the evening, but they will wake up at 4 a.m. to study.”

“You realize how important it is to have a book and learn.”

Despite the obstacles these girls face, they see their circumstance as “just the way it is,” but not a roadblock. “Their identity is their triumph,” Sara Jo says. “They’re very happy.”

And they are successful. At the end of their education at Daraja, every girl — in fact, every student in Kenya — takes  the KCSE exam, a grueling three-week long examination that covers every subject they have ever studied. Each subject, Sara says, has three parts, and each part takes up to three hours to complete.

For those students scoring exceptionally high, the Kenyan government pays their university tuition. Others apply for scholarships.  Of the first group of Daraja graduates, eight are enrolled in Kenyan universities with full financial support. One of those, Leila, “is brilliant. She is studying in a bio technology field,” Sara Jo says.

Empowering girls like the Daraja girls is something Sara Jo is passionate about. It’s why she flew back to Kenya just after graduation as an intern. Returning, she wanted a part in encouraging the gender equality and opportunity for these girls, and girls elsewhere. Having studied gender equality as a sociology student at JMU, she believes that the best way to achieve such is for people like Leila to show the world what she can do.  Such social change takes time,she knows, but showing others what’s possible for girls to achieve is a good, solid step.

On top of Kilimanjaro

As a volunteer, Sara asked Daraja’s founders how she could help. What they needed most was to get the word out to others, so Sara Jo used social media and email to tell others about Daraja and to recruit partnerships.

“I read once that if you have a great idea, you need to talk to everybody you know and 5 percent will care.”

Among her successes was creating a connection with United Nations Girls’ Education Initiative.

Since returning in December from her second trip to Kenya, Sara Jo, who says of herself “I never stop,” is working to promote fair trade through Harrisonburg’s Ten Thousand Villages. She’s also working with the National Coalition of Girls Schools, a Charlottesville-based nonprofit.

And she works at Massanutten Resort feeding her love of being outdoors, a love she managed to satiate while in Africa. In addition to scaling Mt. Kenya and Tanzania’s Mt. Kilimanjaro, she whitewater rafted on the Zambezi River and hung off the edge of Victoria Falls in Zambia.

But it was the girls who changed and inspired her. “They are bursting at the seams to change the world,” she says. “Every chance I had, I hung out with the girls.”

Before coming to JMU, she had no idea she’d end up scaling Mt. Kilimanjaro or supporting the changing lives of Kenyan girls. “When I came to Springboard,” she says, “I had no idea.” But two Alternative Spring Break trips, one to Honduras and another to the Florida Keys, plus her transformative Study Abroad changed all that.  Studying Abroad in Kenya “gave me focus,” she says.

And now her focus is again on Kenya — and how soon she can get back again.

Ten reasons to pick JMU

Photo by JMU’s Chris Velazquez

February and March are the longest months of a high-school senior’s life — the months before most colleges and universities announce who’s been accepted. After that comes the decision that will change their lives: What school to choose? It’s a huge decision and as deadlines loom, it doesn’t get easier.  So here’s a little help: My Top Ten reasons to pick JMU …..

1. You’ll earn a degree of substance and significance that will mean much more in practice than it ever will mean on paper. Madison has always charted its own path and never believed that the status quo or the experience of another university is what works best for us. In fact, Madison offers exceptional opportunities to students — from athletics and leadership to dazzling arts and undergraduate research. Many opportunities here simply aren’t available at other schools.
2. JMU is a fun place to go to college. Students love it here. In fact, more than 90 percent of freshmen come back for the sophomore year.
3. Harrisonburg has a little bit of everything: beautiful mountains (for climbing, biking, skiing), a lively downtown, great food (Ethiopian, Asian, Greek, Cuban, you name it), convenience (everything is close to campus), and shopping. (Well, maybe not great shopping, but there’s always Amazon.)
4. JMU students are ambitious but not obsessed. The typical JMU student wants to wring every drop out of college that they can. Many pursue two and three majors. They also devote time and talent to worthy campus and community organizations. Few students spend four years only studying. They work hard, don’t misunderstand me, but they look at life in balance, a philosophy promoted by the university. Here, it’s about the whole person.
5. It could change your way of looking at the world — literally. JMU is one of the top master’s-level universities in the nation for the number of students who study abroad. Almost all of these students returned “home” to JMU changed in some way. It is an enlightening experience to step out from the comfort of the familiar and venture into another world that is exotic, often challenging, but always interesting.
6. Here students are people, not numbers. The student teacher ratio at JMU is 16:1. At an institution of higher education with an enrollment around 20,000, that’s remarkable. Teaching matters here. It’s not an ancillary activity that professors endure so they can do their research. Over and over we hear stories about students whose lives have been changed by the diligent and dedicated mentoring their professors generously give. A top piece of advice that new grads almost always offer to freshmen is this: Get to know your professors.
7. You’ve got a great shot at landing a good job. That’s because there’s a very practical bent at JMU. I’ve heard SMAD students report that their professors regularly remind them that they are teaching them for jobs that don’t yet exist. JMU’s determination to respond to the marketplace sets it apart.  The combination of a liberal arts-focused college with a penchant for understanding the reality of landing a job is priceless.
8. You can make it through in four years if you work and plan well. JMU has one of the highest four-year graduation rates in the nation. And you can change your major if you wish. JMU offers 71 undergraduates degrees. The programs are strong and many are nationally ranked.
9. We turn out citizens. There’s more to life than education; and there’s more to education than academics. Eventually, all students graduate and what they do with the rest of their lives is important. We understand that, so from day one we cultivate the habit of thinking big, thinking broadly, and thinking how one person, one group, one JMU class can change the world. We’ll challenge you to do that—to start a meaningful life right here.
10. JMU has a spirit like none other. It’s an extraordinarily open and friendly campus. If there’s one stat to remember, this is it: 97 percent of students give it high marks. You should keep that in mind when making this all important decision. And if you are, by chance, leaning elsewhere, you can always change your mind.

A year of living bravely

A month or so ago, we featured a story about JMU senior Morgan Robinson. Here’s another installment of her Study Abroad experience; this one in her own words……

Lessons Learned from a Year Abroad

by Morgan Robinson (’13)

„Zwei Dinge sollen Kinder von ihren Eltern bekommen: Wurzeln und Flügel.“ ~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.

 “There are two things Children should get from their parents: Roots and Wings” – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Neuschwanstein Castle outside of Munich

After spending a year abroad I can truly attest to the above statement – and my parents have done a great job applying it. A year abroad will no doubt change a person. Spread your wings to embrace the endless opportunities presented and as you learn to live in a foreign city and recognize your roots at home.

I spent just shy of a full year living in Munich, Germany. I say living rather than studying because a study abroad experience is so much more than actual studying; it’s living like you’ve never lived before. Living abroad will absolutely leave you asking yourself ‘is this real life?’ on so many occasions. Hopping on planes to some exotic location for weekend trips, taking advantage of the incredibly rich culture — $10 world-class operas, yes please! — and connecting with people from all over the world never gets old. But it’s not all glam. As Americans we are used to a pretty cushy lifestyle; foreign bureaucracy can be quite stressful and the culture shock and at least a bit of homesickness is bound to happen. You are pretty much independent — you pay your own bills, make your own plans, deal with consequences all on your own; you learn a whole lot about yourself and learn some serious real-world-relevant lessons.

Morgan in the city of Bergen, Norway

I went to Germany through the Junior Year in Munich Program and the DAAD scholarship. I lived in student apartments in the city and studied German, French and Norwegian at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität. I quickly fell in love with Munich and all of Bavaria. I experienced the organized chaos that is Oktoberfest, loved every minutes of the Christmas Markets (I don’t know what I’ll do without Glühwein!), and the majestic castles and landscape of the region never ceased to amaze me. I love the language and found the Bavarian dialect oddly charming. My schedule allowed for a great deal of traveling; I made it to 11 countries over the year and became quite a savvy traveler! I learned from experience the right and wrong ways to pack a suitcase, how to book tickets and that it is a good idea to always bring a Lonely Planet book to get the most out of a trip. I had an incredible year. It far exceeded any expectations.

In my experience, it was the year in Munich that really taught me the incredible value of home. I went to Europe with the mindset that I could possibly live there full-time. The inner-Euro girl in me came out big time and I found myself wondering if I’d like to live in the cities I visited, more often than not that answer was yes. After that initial excitement of the first months in Europe faded I began to realize that expat status would be really difficult. I am not necessarily a home-body but no way I could ever get used to the idea of starting a family 3000 miles away from my home in Virginia, and of course I’d miss living in the good ole U.S. of A! Being away for so long made me realize all I had to appreciate at home and how important family is to me. I think this was probably the most valuable lesson I learned.

Hofgarten, Theatine Church (in the background) in Munich

I absolutely advise spending time abroad. I think, ideally, everyone that can should spend at least a year abroad. It arms you with experience that gives you a real can-do attitude, challenging you to follow your dreams and get the most out of life. I was a little worried about what I might miss at home over the year, but the things I got to do and the priceless life-lessons I learned made it so worth it.

I am a senior this year and will be graduating in May with a degree in Modern Foreign Languages (German and French). I had originally planned on graduate school for literature and eventually pursuing a career in academia, but I changed plans and will be going back to Europe. This time I plan to go to Paris, to attend Le Cordon Bleu to study both culinary and pastry arts for about a year. This is a very exciting move; I am definitely looking forward to spending more time in Europe and following my dreams at culinary school.

You can follow the culinary adventures of Morgan Robinson on her blog and read more about her Study Abroad experience. Just click the embedded links. (Photos provided by Morgan Robinson.)

A taste of Germany

Language has never been a barrier for JMU senior Morgan Robinson.

I sat down with Morgan last week after learning that she had been chosen by the German Academic Exchange Service as Young Ambassador for the 2012-13 academic year.

The organization she represents, Deutscher Akademischer Austausch Dienst — or DAAD for short — promotes higher education in Germany. Every year, DAAD provides 80 scholarship for foreign students to study in Germany. According to their website, DAAD supports international academic cooperation and offers programs and funding to more than 50,000 individuals every year. Thanks to the encouragement of her German professor at JMU, Morgan applied for and received a DAAD scholarship.

Morgan spent last year studying abroad in Munich, Germany. “I did a very full year abroad,” she says. The experience was perfect for the senior from Richmond, Va., who is majoring in modern foreign languages, German and French.

She spent her first few weeks abroad with a host family, learning quickly that “textbook German is not what’s used.” She also learned that “southern” is not peculiar to the United States.  Germany also has a heavy southern dialect that Morgan learned.

It was just the beginning of a rich learning experience.

She moved to an apartment in Munich with “two burners and a mini-fridge,” a phrase she now uses as the title of her blog. Living only ten minutes from the university, Morgan was positioned in the middle of everything, she says, and there was a whole lot going on.

Morgan Robinson (’13), fourth from the left, and her fellow DAAD Young Ambassadors

“It’s such a rich culture,” she says. It is not unusual to come across a gathering of people celebrating a 250-year-old tradition.

Morgan took full advantage of the opportunities presented her. She hiked in the Alps and visited 11 countries during her 11 months abroad.

On a whim, she emailed the author of a foodie blog, which she had followed. To her delight, the blogger put her in touch with two chefs in Munich who took her on as an intern during her long winter break. “It was not in the plan at all,” she says.

She participated in cooking classes and worked with a cookbook writer. “There was lots of networking,” she says of yet one more benefit of her study abroad.

Her semester classes began in October after a three-week orientation program. German classrooms, she found, were different. A typical class has 300-500 students, she says, and grades are based on one test or one presentation or one essay. Hearing that for the first time was intimidating, but after talking to her professors, Morgan realized they were eager to work with her and interested in helping her learn as much as she could.

And learn she did. Over two semesters, one October through February, and the second April through July, she studied German and French, German history, and German literature. She also took the opportunity to learn Norwegian, “while she was there,” she says. “Learning a new language in a classroom where the baseline language is another foreign language is a really good way to see how a language is built.”

The year in Germany changed Morgan and altered her career plans. She went to Germany planning to pursue a Ph.D. in language to someday teach. But her fortuitous internship with the two Munich chefs changed those plans. Now the self-described “foodie” is interested in a career in food media.

Back at JMU for her senior year, Morgan is finishing up her honors thesis, a study of German and French fairy tales, including how they are used in socializing. She’s also eager to talk about studying in Germany.

And when she’s not working at Shank’s Bakery in downtown Harrisonburg or studying, she’s weighing whether she’ll study next at New York’s International Culinary Center or perhaps France’s famed Cordon Bleu.

To learn more about DAAD and the Young Ambassadors program, visit https://www.daad.org/page/YA2012

To follow Morgan’s culinary adventures, visit her blog: http://twoburnersandaminifridge.com/

Greetings from Sweden

JMU’s Jim Heffernan (’96) gives us a glimpse of country that’s a little mysterious …..

Greetings from Sweden

by Jim Heffernan

Greetings from Sweden, the country that produced film legends Ingrid Bergman and Greta Garbo, tennis great Bjorn Borg, Alfred Nobel (hint: think peace prize), the musical group ABBA and the chic home furnishings store IKEA, to name just a few. I’m here, along with three of my colleagues from JMU’s Office of International Programs, in Malmö, a city of nearly 300,000 in the southernmost province of Scania, near the border with Denmark. We’re taking part in a series of international staff training sessions hosted by Malmö University, a member of the International Network of Universities of which JMU assumed the leadership in January.

To the outside observer, Malmö is a study in contrast — a one-time Viking outpost seized from the Danes in the mid-1600s and steeped in Old World European charms like cobbled streets, village squares and Gothic architecture; and an emerging post-industrial commercial center linked with Copenhagen via the new Oresund bridge and tunnel. In the Swedish tradition, Malmo is quiet and exceptionally clean, with little to no crime, and there is a sense of confidence among its residents, both for their past and for their future.

Malmö University, which is housed in a half-dozen distinctively modern buildings near the waterfront, is helping fuel the city’s transformation from a vanquished shipyard to a thriving educational and cultural hub. Established in 1998, the university targets international students with an array of multidisciplinary programs, including courses taught in English. If you want to study here, you can do so through the INU. The folks in JMU international programs and their counterparts at Malmö University would be happy to sit down with you and help make it happen.

Don’t know much about Sweden, you say? It’s okay. There’s a mystery surrounding this northern European country that has been at peace since the early 18^th century. Indeed the popular perception of Swedes as tall, blond, blue-eyed people who wear wooly hats falls a bit short in Malmo, a port city that today boasts 160 nationalities. However, other Swedish stereotypes are evident. Native citizens and their adopted siblings are notoriously punctual, honest and hard working. According to professor Steve Myers, a transplant from England who teaches at Malmö University, you’d be hard-pressed to find a Swede who doesn’t pay his taxes on time or carry with him a plastic bag when walking his dog in public. And he would never even think of taking a bath after 10 p.m. for fear of disturbing his neighbors. What’s more, Sweden has one of the highest levels of gender equality in the world, and as a welfare state there is a strong sense of tolerance and fair play. If there’s a downside to such a staid society, Myers claims, it’s that Sweden becomes a land of trivial complaints — the gentle reminder in the break room to wash your coffee cup or a note in the lift of your apartment building on how not to park your bicycle.

But beneath the Swedes’ shy, withdrawn demeanor lies a passion for life and for nature and even a soft-spoken national pride. After all, this is the land of crayfish parties and outdoor festivals such as “Midsummer Madness,” during which Swedes decorate their homes with garlands, dance around the Maypole and sing songs known to all. And don’t be put off by Swedes’ seemingly chilly reception to strangers, says Alexandra Norby, a 22-year-old Swedish exchange student at JMU majoring in international affairs. It may take a while to earn their trust, she says, but once you do, you have a friend for life.

I’m already making some friends of my own here this week, and planning a return visit. Goodbye for now, or as the Swedes say, “Hej då.”

(Photos by Jim Heffernan)

Breakfast with monkeys

(l-r) Dave Stevens, Ben Schulze, Esteban Saenz, Jessie Taylor

When JMU senior ISAT majors Dave Stevens (’12), Ben Schulze (’12) and Jessie Taylor (’12) flew to Costa Rica last August and again in December as part of their senior project, they learned  there is a big difference between creating and researching a project on paper and actually getting out in the field and doing it.

The three students, along with their professor, Dr. Karim Altaii, traveled to Costa Rica to perform an energy analysis on a resort called Hotel Punta Leona. Located in the southwestern province of Puntarenas, the hotel is a popular vacation destination in a very  biodiverse country that values its ecology. “For the resort,” Dave says, “sustainability efforts are just as important as potential economic savings.”

The students’ objective is to remotely monitor real-time energy consumption data from the U.S. via Internet-connection devices, which they installed. The devices allow them to monitor energy use by month, day, hour, minute and second for individual guest units at the resort. They also are able to monitor individual circuits to pinpoint consumption trends that might otherwise go unnoticed. From the data the students collect, they can recommend ways the resort can reduce energy use.

“As we planned for this project in the states,” Dave says, “everything was going to work out smoothly with no hitches. After we arrived, we soon learned that when working with a relatively busy resort, there are inherent obstacles.”

While installing energy monitoring devices, they had to coordinate their efforts with maintenance people, owners and guests checking in and out of rooms every few days. “One day we would install a device and we wouldn’t be able to access it for a few days until the room was unoccupied again.”

Because the resort was originally built as a temporary movie set, the wiring was very disorganized, which made identifying circuits to monitor a challenge. Adding to the challenge, they had to deal with frequent power outages, “brown outs” and the language barrier .

“I certainly wish I knew more Spanish,” Dave says. “We constantly relied on our “Tico” (word for Costa Rica natives). They were awesome and always put up with us asking ‘now what did that person say?'”

Joining the JMU students, three students from the University of Costa Rica, Tattiana Hernandez, Francisco Gamboa and Estaban Saenz were part of the team.

The students also encountered the unexpected. “The internet was down in our room, so we had to walk to the reception area to use their Internet. It was late and the the reception area is open to the outside since the weather is pretty moderate all year. Before I knew it, there was a family of raccoons snooping around us. They would come up to our feet and try to nudge or bite us.  I remember sitting there and laughing at the situation thinking, wow, wouldn’t have expected racoons to be an obstacle during this project.”

Along with the raccoons, they had breakfast with monkeys who would sneak out of the trees, sidle over to the open-air breakfast and help themselves to the students’ fare.

The ISAT team didn’t spend all their time in Costa Rica working. “The first weekend we were there we traveled to Limon, on the Caribbean side of the country. We stayed in a small coast resort called the Black Pearl. The beaches looked like set for the Pirates of the Caribbean movies,” Dave says.

Now back on campus, the team is monitoring and analyzing data. They are also designing a solar power system for the resort.

About his experience, Dave says, “I feel like my career goals have certainly been sharpened. It has been very interesting getting to work in a real professional setting and applying skill sets I’ve acquired through ISAT. I feel a lot more confident in tackling such projects in the future.”

And they can all say they’ve had breakfast with monkeys.

To learn more about JMU’s ISAT program, visit http://www.isat.jmu.edu/

We get it, Harvard! That’s how we roll….

Image via Wikipedia

In a recent blog post for the Harvard Business Review, Oliver Segovia writes about a critical ingredient in success and happiness.

And it is not passion.

“Forget about finding your passion,” Segovia writes. “Instead, focus on finding big problems.” He goes on to explain why:

Putting problems at the center of our decision-making changes everything. It’s not about the self anymore. It’s about what you can do and how you can be a valuable contributor. People working on the biggest problems are compensated in the biggest ways. I don’t mean this in a strict financial sense, but in a deeply human sense. For one, it shifts your attention from you to others and the wider world. You stop dwelling. You become less self-absorbed. Ironically, we become happier if we worry less about what makes us happy.

When I read that, I couldn’t help but think: “We get it, Harvard. JMU really gets it.”

Segovia goes on to explain how passion, even when it is potent and sincere, can hit a wall in an economy where jobs are limited. Passion, in other words, can be blunted. Problems, on the other hand, can always be found.

Segovia lists four actions that happy and successful people take – and they sounded very, very familiar. See if you don’t agree….

1. “Develop situational awareness.”  Look beyond yourself, he writes, and you’ll see the big problems. That’s exactly what Alexandra Robbins (’07) and Daniel Haney (’07) did when they saw the plight of orphans in Cambodia. Learn what Alexandra and Daniel did at http://www.jmu.edu/bethechange/stories/azizas_place.shtml

2. “Look into problems that affect you in a very personal way.” Returning to the states and seeing the difficulties that wounded veterans faced as they tried to reconnect felt very personal to Iraq War veteran Justin Constantine (’92). He did something about it. Read about Justin’s solution at http://www.jmu.edu/bethechange/stories/constantineIraqAndBack.shtml

3. “Connect with people working on big problems.” When Rheannon Sorrells (’04.,11 M) found herself in a school setting where students were struggling to read, she connected people and helped transform an entire school system. Find out how Rheannon did it at http://www.jmu.edu/bethechange/stories/warren_county_reading.shtml

4. “Take time off and travel.” JMU is not an armchair, examine-from-afar-and-ponder kind of unversity; it’s a take-charge kind. Madison people find problems to solve all over the world. President Linwood Rose reported to the board of visitors earlier this month that JMU has been recognized as number 1 in the country for masters-level institutions for short-term study abroad and number 2 in the country overall. Learn more about Study Abroad at http://www.jmu.edu/international/abroad/

The approach to success and happiness that Segovia discusses has always been a part of the fabric of JMU. We call it “Being the Change.” JMU people find problems, create solutions and get to work.

So, yes, we get it, Harvard. Being the Change — positive, uplifting, world-changing, problem-solving change — that’s how we roll.

To read the entire piece by Oliver Segovia, go to http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2012/01/to_find_happiness_forget_about.html

Lessons in Italian Pig Herding

Image via Wikipedia

Lessons in Italian Pig Herding

by Nicole Martorana (’07), guest blogger

I never expected to herd pigs. This may sound odd considering I had signed up to volunteer through the international nonprofit Worldwide Opportunities on Organic Farms (WWOOF). However, when I decided to quit my job last spring and travel through Europe for six weeks, I envisioned escaping my routine to seek creative inspiration and a more tranquil existence. Pigs were never part of the plan.

But first, let me rewind to the semester I spent studying abroad in Florence, Italy, during my junior year at JMU. This experience irrevocably changed not only my sense of the world, but also my understanding of how I existed in it. For four months, I studied Michelangelo’s awe‐inspiring sculptures, conducted diligent gelato research, and decisively failed at market‐haggling. Throughout it all, the language of my family’s heritage surrounded me and made a country so different from my own still feel like home.

When I left Florence, I left a piece of my heart amid its cobblestone streets. And while I was determined to return, I had no idea when this would be possible.

Naturally, when I found myself stuck in a rut four years later and completely sapped of artistic motivation, my mind started to wander to those domed cathedrals and steaming cups of cappuccino. Around the same time, I happened upon a description of WWOOF in a book I was reading called Delaying the Real World: A Twentysomething’s Guide to Seeking Adventure by Colleen Kinder. I was 24, tired of the “real world,” and definitely looking for adventure.
WWOOF, which offers free housing and meals in exchange for volunteer work, seemed like the perfect way to try something new and return to Italy with minimal expense.

So with my WWOOF Italia membership in hand, I set off for a Tuscan teaching farm which I had chosen for its description of the artisan retreats and cultural classes it hosted – an opportunity, I thought, to be in a creative community and put that SMAD degree to use. But whether through my own naiveté or a miscommunication with the volunteer coordinator, when I arrived on the farm, I wasn’t led into a room full of artists but rather handed a pair of work boots and sent out to cavort with the pigs.

Though they possessed the tendency to snort and charge unexpectedly at my knees, the pigs, oddly enough, became my favorite part of the day. As they were of the free‐ranging, chestnut‐rooting Cinta Senese breed native to the region, most of my time involved chasing them around in the woods with a big stick and a tall intern named Noah. My afternoons involved a lot of colorful narration between Noah’s instructions in his thick Texan drawl to just “sneak up and whack ‘em” in the direction of their feed troughs and the Sienese farmer Giulio’s shouts of pig‐related obscenities when they continually ran away. Needless to say, the pigs wanted to be herded just about as much as we wanted to herd them.

Don’t worry, I’m not going to get all mystical and reflect on how the pigs taught me the finer points about the nature of the universe. But what did start to happen was a growing realization of the knowledge and resources I’d gained during my semester abroad. I knew this country’s rail system and how to find a cheap, yet safe hostel. I still remembered enough rudimentary Italian to ask for directions or, more importantly, a bowl of pasta. As the days went by, I became more confident in my ability to take care of myself on foreign soil and devise a new plan that would allow me to follow the intention of my original soul‐ searching journey. And that’s exactly what I would go on to do for the remaining four weeks of my trip. Plus, with my newfound knowledge of Italian curse words, I was well‐ prepared should I encounter any more pigs along the way.

Nicole Martorana graduated from JMU in 2007 with a BA in Media Arts & Design and a minor in Writing & Rhetoric.

To learn more about Nicole’s trip after life on the farm, stay tuned for future posts. And let us know if you have an adventure that changed your perspective.

For more information on WWOOF, please visit http://www.wwoof.org/. To find out more about Colleen Kinder’s book, please visit http://www.delayingtherealworld.com/.

Willing to “wwoof”

Image via Wikipedia

Imagine working in the hot sun all day weeding row after row of beans or trimming olive trees or herding pigs.

Sound fun? No?

If you think not, you need to consider the “wwooffers.” All over the world, the young and the able  are volunteering weeks and months of their time to do intensive labor on organic and small farms. In return, they get a place to sleep and three meals a day. And no pay.

What began in England 40 years ago as a way of finding an opportunity to experience the wonders of nature has grown into an international movement that supports organic and sustainable farms. Thousands of volunteers fan out to small operations to offer a week, a month or more of free labor. Given the condition of the world’s environment, sustainable and organic farming — much of which is accomplished on small, family farms — is critical for the future, one that students are especially attuned to. After all, it’s their future.

By one count, some 50 organizations in more than 100 countries have networks the coordinate “wwoofers.” While it is an opportunity for students to experience the world in a new way, it also makes the world a little better. Think of it as changing the world one weed at a time.

For JMU alumna Nicole Martorana (’07) “wwoofing” meant herding pigs and trimming olive trees as part of a summer of travel last year. Earlier Nicole had spent a semester abroad in Florence. “I always knew that when I left Florence, I’d be back,” she says.

Go back she did. Like so many of today’s students, travel means far more than a traditional tourist adventure to exotic locations. For many, travel is an opportunity to learn and to make a difference. Other countries are different parts of the world — but parts of their world.

This summer, after his own study abroad experience in Florence, rising senior Peter Jackson (’12) took his own turn “wwoofing.” He writes: “I went to an organic farm in Piemonte in the Alps. There I learned all about organic farming techniques and worked everywhere the family needed my help. In return, I got a bed and three meals each day (a good deal).”

That’s not all Peter did.  After “wwoofing,” Peter headed to Zambia, one of the poorest countries in the world.  In a future blog, I’ll share about that experience. (You will not want to miss it!)

For students like Peter and Nicole, changing the world is only a matter of taking a step out of the ordinary. It’s part of the culture of JMU, whether it’s in Europe or Harrisonburg or Zambia.

You can learn more about wwoofing at: http://wwoof.org/

You can also follow on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/WWOOF?sk=wall