A whirlwind trip to SIT Study Abroad in Panama
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(worldlearningnow.wordpress.com) Over a long weekend in mid-May, World Learning’s Executive Vice President and SIT Provost, Adam Weinberg, had a chance to visit the SIT Study Abroad Conservation and Development Program in Panama. The goal of his trip was to gain a better understanding of the SIT Study Abroad ISP (Independent Study Project) process, and to see examples of the positive impact our students are having in several Panamanian communities. Panama is a unique study abroad experience because there are very few Americans and international tourists, and SIT Study Abroad is one of the only study abroad programs working in the country. These and other reasons made the visit to Panama compelling.
Adam spent four very packed days speaking with faculty, homestay families, and students in Panama City, Bocas del Toro, and Loma Bonita, and was incredibly impressed by the things that he saw. He met with several students who were in the process of working on their ISPs - some of which who were partnering with Smithsonian Institution scientists and conducting original ecological research. The Panama program - like many of our programs - provides students the opportunities to research the topics they are interested in, with a particular focus on environmental sustainability and knowledge transfer to local communities. As a result, students in the Panama program regularly add to the growing body of environmental sustainability research - opportunities most PHD candidates would kill for!
Students shared several of their ISP experiences with Adam, from evaluating the water quality and accessibility of water resources in a Naso indigenous community (Shira Wrightman) to determining the existing barriers of incentives for privatized conservation in Panama (Adam Mentzer). Adam also described in detail Steven Schnorr’s daily practice of floating in coral reefs for several hours a day, conducting research to gauge the scope of the stresses on the reefs and its species, and how Elizabeth Calcutt paddles in a canoe day after a day conducting a bird inventory in the San San Pond Sak wetlands of Bocas del Toro.
One of the highlights of Adam’s trip was spending a lot of time with homestay families. Although he had heard numerous positive anecdotes about the homestay experience before, this was his first time having an opportunity to spend quality time. Anyone who has experienced a homestay before understands the close bond formed between student and family, and this was no exception in Adam’s experience. He was also extremely impressed by the ownership and responsibility that the homestay families have for the success of our programs and their intense pride in the role that they play with our students.
When asked what sets the SIT Panama program apart from other study abroad programs, Adam explained that the model was education and reciprocity at its best, because research and knowledge transfer is tied into the foundation of the local community. The academic opportunities students have in Panama are founded upon the rich partnerships we maintain and bolstered by the reality of being able to see sustainability projects up close, that are affordable and successful. Students have the unique opportunity to contribute to development projects that are really working and have evolved from the grassroots. At the end of the day they not only have a semester of college under their belt, and original ecological research, but also the chance of a lifetime to have a positive impact on the quality of life for people - something that is fleeting due to the great challenges in international development.
