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2009-05-05 issue:

Goshen College launches two new SSTs

New Study-Service Term in Latino community in Indiana; new unit in Egypt.

by Goshen College

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Goshen (Ind.) College is launching two new Study-Service Term (SST) programs: one locally in Goshen and one in Egypt. Starting in the spring of 2010, Goshen students will have the opportunity to study about, serve in and be immersed in the local Latino culture for a semester in northern Indiana, which has seen significant demographic changes in the last 20 years. Minority enrollment in northern Indiana schools—particularly Latino students—has grown dramatically.

“Since the inception of the international education program,” says Tom Meyers, director of international education, “there have been conversations about a domestic alternative to our international programs. We believe it is time to develop and implement a new model. We need an immersion experience and direct contact with another culture for students who can’t go abroad.”

Goshen offers alternative courses for students unable to travel abroad—often due to life circumstances and commitments—to fulfill the SST requirement. Approximately 20 percent of students take these courses.

“Domestic SST will create a space for GC students to listen and learn about what’s happening in their backyard regarding cultural issues related to the Latino community,” says local Latino community leader Gilberto Perez Jr., the Bienvenido program director for the Northeastern Center in Ligonier, Ind. Perez and the Northeastern Center have assisted the college in connecting with Latino leaders in Elkhart and Noble County.

Students will study Spanish, Latino history, literature and culture, take field trips to Latino communities in such places as Chicago and Indianapolis and serve in local organizations, church programs or schools linked to the Latino community.

Though students will continue to live on campus or at home, they will each connect with a local Latino family on a regular basis during the semester. In other SST locations, students live with host families during both the six weeks of study and the six weeks of service.

Impetus for the development of a domestic SST location came from funding designated in the 2006 Lilly Endowment grant for the Center for Intercultural Teaching and Learning, that was created to serve the educational needs of a rapidly increasing Latino immigrant population.
New unit in Egypt: Starting in the fall of 2010, Egypt will be added as a new SST location, making it the first time that Arabic is the language studied by students on SST.

“Goshen College should be in the Middle East,” Meyers says. “It is a very important part of the world and international politics. It is at the heart of so many issues.”

Because of sensitivities around gender, students will not live with host families and instead will be housed in apartments or a retreat center. Students will attend a language school in Cairo during the first part of the semester and do service in a variety of locations during the second part of the term.

The addition of Egypt as an SST location means that the summer 2009 unit to Germany will be the last for that location.

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