Summer 2024 intercultural studies were underway this May, where we found our students and professors enjoying their summer and learning new ways to interact with different cultures and people.
It was half way through May when our EMU travels first stepped foot in New Orleans. Their plan was to stay there for 4 days before moving on to the next leg of their trip. The plan was to understand the mindset of the people and the local culture of this fairly popular city. While there they visited McDonogh 19 Elementary school. McDonogh along with William Frantz Elementary School were the first two schools that were made to desegregate and integrate black children as decided by Brown v. Board of Education. At McDonogh EMU students saw the images of Gail Etiennne, Leona Tate, and Tessie Prevost Willams. The three out of four children who were chosen to desegregate public schools.
In addition EMU students were educated about the effects and aftermath of hurricane katrina in New Orleans in the fall of 2005. How the storm flooded the city when its levee system broke down, resulting in 80% of New Orleans being covered in water. This caused the devastation of houses, businesses, public facilities, and forced thousands to leave their homes. This changed the landscape of the city, taking years to rebuild.They saw how Katrina highlighted the deep gaps in society, as poor communities suffered the bulk of the disaster and took longer to recover. After the hurricane many people left the city, and as a result the economy took a dip.
But this disaster took place almost two decades ago. Since then a lot of infrastructural and artistic changes have been made to the city. And as a consequence more people have been pouring back into the city. Senior Rita Toto had this to say, “You see people in the street every single day.” When asked about the differences she saw between New Orleans and other cities she added, “It’s just about the community. The community is very welcoming,and engaging. They support each other. They come together in a time of crisis.” Furthermore EMU students made time to try some southern cuisines. Rita went for a Cajun seasoned bowl of rice, baked beans and fish. And of course they had Beignets.
Four days later our EMU travels crossed state lines arriving in Tucson, Arizona. There they got into contact with the shalom church, a religious organization who felt in their hearts the need to help immigrants who cross the US-Mexico border. Once the immigrants reach the church, team leaders from shalom do their best to find housing and other basic necessities for those who need it.
Their next leg of the trip took them to Dougles, AZ, which is a 13 minute drive from Agua Prieta, Sonora, Mexico. Once in Douglas, they were able to visit the welcome center. A location where people were crossing into the US to get help transitioning from their old life to life in the states. Our students were also living and working with a bi-national Presbyterian Border Ministry called Frontera de Cristo. They stayed at a church by the name of Lirio de los Valles, in Agua Prieta, Mexico. While there, they learned 500 years of immigration history, politics, and economics, as well as visited the Border Patrol Center, as they walked back and forth across the border. More importantly they trekked through the desert and put water and rehydration packets out for migrants.
Across the Atlantic Ocean, we see our royals experimenting with the methods of science and innovation in Geneva, Switzerland. Introducing CERN IdeaSquare, an environment where concepts turn into tangible products. This group of 18 lived within the CERN compound for three weeks. On their first week and a half they wrestled with a hypothetical prompt: To explore TRAPPIST-1 ,a planet 40 light years away, what would you consider as a viable fuel source, how would you maneuver the ship while in space, what would you use to collect vital information regarding the planets biosphere. Senior Chuck Tirtasaputra recalled some of the decisions the group made, “we decided to use Antimatter as a fuel source,… in terms of navigating the terrain we will use AI trained here on earth to detect space debris and help us travel to and from our destinations. For data collection we would engrave disks with the data we obtain and relay it back to the ship.” The remaining week and a half they helped CERN engineers build detectors that analyze how particles react when they come into contact with each other. They are hoping these detector panels will later be used in the large hadron collider.
Moreover, EMU students were exposed to material that did not involve any investigational or scientific data out over in Rome, Italy. A two hour trip from Geneva landed them in one of the most culturally vibrant cities in the continent. Given the city’s christian background, the coordinators of the trip decided to obtain lodging at a nearby nunnery. From there our professors led the way to show the students how to use the public transport. They ended up going to the Colosseum and the Flame of vista, also called the sacred fire of vista. Chuck thought the colosseum was interesting because, “they would throw people in there and let them fight, and hope they would die for the sake of entertainment.” In addition he saw the special seats assigned for the Emperor and the members of the Senate. After that they went to the University of Rome. The same university that our esteemed Professor Stefano Colafranceschi got his PHD from. Once there Professor Stefano along with his past colleagues got together with the students and went to a popular gathering spot in Rome. There they shared a meal and had meaningful conversations.
Additionally EMU offered an on-campus class over the summer to fulfill the intercultural requirement. They also took students to the Washington Community Scholar Center as an option for those who wanted to stay in the country.
If you are interested in taking an intercultural or just want to learn more go to https://emu.edu/intercultural/.
