What inspired you to work for Bethel University Global Studies?
I believe in these trips to educate those who go on them and let them explore the world we live in. Learn how others on our planet live and how different but the same we all are. These trips are well planned and safe for the travelers. The trips are fun and educational for any age.
I highly recommend these trips because I believe in what they provide, and the cost is great for the experience you receive. Learning the ways of other countries, such as how they live, how they operate their business and why, and what our country does that affects how their business is run or how they trade. What does their culture do that is way different from ours in the way of food, money, and just everyday living?
What advice would you tell your pre-travel self?
Have fun and take it all in.
Be a sponge for the information you are going to take in and the things you will see and experience. Be ready to have a life-changing experience with each trip you take. Be prepared to smile and laugh and get to know new people. Get ready to be amazed at the things you will see and experience as well. The sites, food, and people that you will meet and experience are going to be a great experience while visiting another country.
Learning the way of life of indigenous people is a highlight of the trip. Seeing how skilled and talented people are in other parts of the world is amazing. Meeting master craftsmen (and women) for garments and household items, as well as foods, is amazing.
Describe a typical day at work.
I spend all day at work in front of a computer and on the phone helping individuals. It is a rewarding job when the people I have under my "watch" complete their degree and graduate. Getting to share the world of travel with them is also a great reward, to see what people learn and observe along the way.
Why do you do what you do?
I love helping others earn their degree. I love to help them get through the tough times, easy times, and to that end goal of earning their degree and graduating. They earn it; I just help navigate them along the way. Watching others travel and get to experience something that they normally would not get to see is a great blessing as well.
What is your favorite part of your job?
The same reasons I put for why I do what I do. I love to see the smiles on their faces as they earn their degree. Something they have worked hard for and achieved. Getting to see people travel and experience other places is great as well. Showing the travelers different ways of life and how people adapt to their circumstances is a learning experience.
How do you use your education and international background in your current role?
It depends on each situation. There is always a chance to promote future travel for possible future travelers. Learning how each country uses its resources to provide is such a helpful way to understand how we get the items we do (food, clothing, etc.).
What are some current projects you are working on?
Many trips to different locations.
Why should someone choose Bethel University Global Studies over competitors?
We provide an easy plan for getting the trips. The trip is planned out for the group. The cost is split into payments that are affordable. The route is planned out with trustworthy people. The places that are visited are skillfully chosen for the trips. You can earn college credit also.
The experience alone is worth so much more than anything you can imagine. Getting to explore our Earth and the places that make it up is so informative and educational. Learning about other cultures, ways of life, and ecosystems is an amazing thing to know. Getting to experience these places with friends, or future friends, and family is a great way to travel as well. Getting to share this experience with others who have the desire to travel and see other places is a great bonus as well.
What is your Bethel University Global Studies' mission and how do you continue to work toward it?
Educate the world around us. Teach our community about the world around us. Have them gain knowledge and respect for things that we take for granted and an understanding of goods and services provided to us from other areas of the world.
Seeing how other parts of the world provide their goods compared to how we do things at home is an eye-opening experience. Seeing the other side of an organization, behind the scenes, helping to make their dreams a reality, and providing extra hands to help an organization continue and thrive in their part of the world.
Understanding what their organization does, provides, has to deal with, needs to maintain its operations, and such is a healthy way to understand how and why things are accomplished.
What makes Bethel University Global Studies special?
We teach the world to everyone. Giving others the understanding and knowledge of the working world around us and where we fit into it. Seeing the world through the eyes of others so that we can accept and understand those areas of the world that most do not see.
What hopes do you have for the future for Bethel University Global Studies?
Continue to grow and offer these trips for others to participate in. The more you know, the more you grow. Helping others to have knowledge of what goes on in other countries and spaces to provide goods and services that we have grown accustomed to being able to get and enjoy. Realizing the work it takes to provide those goods and/or services.
What makes Bethel University Global Studies easy to market to potential participants?
The ease and benefits of this organization and taking these trips is outstanding. The "extras" are outstanding.
What do you hope participants take away from your programs?
Knowledge of where things come from and how other countries provide items that we use. Even how things from the US are used elsewhere in the world. How the US and those countries interact with the products or services shared.
Others learning the way another culture creates their goods is a way to learn and appreciate those tasks. They will see how others make a living to support their families, how the goods are harvested or made, and appreciate why some things cost what they do.
I took a stained glass making class, and I truly appreciate the stained glass art so much more now that I have a working knowledge of why those items are so expensive and how those items are made to be available for others.
Why is it important for people to travel abroad and experience new cultures?
To understand how the world works outside of the US and how we, as consumers, use the products that other countries provide. Learn how we shape and mold each other's products and how they are produced or traded among each other.
Learn how other parts of the world look at things we do in the United States compared to how their country handles the same situation. Things such as everyday life - water use, flushing a toilet, foods that we eat, actions that we do every day, and things like that. What is acceptable at home may not be the same everywhere.
We take for granted that when we turn the faucet, water is going to appear, or just flushing toilet tissue. Those things are a different way of life in other countries.
How do you help support participants?
Encourage each to get their goals or dreams met. We are there for anyone. We have all sorts of contacts for anything that can arise, may arise, etc. We support each other in all that we are involved in.
If you could participate on one of Bethel University Global Studies' programs, where would you go and what would you do?
I would go anywhere to experience the world around me. I love learning about other cultures, ways of life, processes, and other practices that other individuals live by.
Why do you think learning a new language is important?
Traveling to other countries is not always easy if your native language is not spoken elsewhere. Learning a new language opens so many more doors for learning other techniques and styles of agriculture and textiles.
What does meaningful travel mean to you?
You learn and grow as an individual by understanding other cultures. Gain knowledge of how we acquire some of the items that we get from other areas of the earth. Coffee is a big one: to know that each coffee bean is picked by hand and that a huge portion of the bean is discarded as waste, watching a master weaver create her garments and rugs, etc., learning how she has to make her products on a loom that she creates, learning how each country survives just to make ends meet in their household is what is awe-inspiring.
Learning how other countries have natural resource management within the companies that provide these goods and services is also a learning experience. How do their practices compare to what we do at home?
What advice do you have for individuals thinking about going abroad?
Learn and grow as you travel the world we live in and see other countries and cultures. Learn how they adapt to change and compare how we adapt here in the US.
What issues do you see in the world of international education that don't line up with your values and expectations for mutually beneficial & educational relationships between providers/programs and the communities in which they are located within?
Learn what is accepted in other places and what is not. Learn where you can and cannot go in other countries. There are places that outsiders should not go to, go in, or go around. If you do not understand that culture in that place, ask lots of questions while being safe about doing so.
What does ethical global engagement mean to you?
Engage with everyone, be true to who you are, and respect the culture you are visiting. Do not engage in wrongful activities or activities that are offensive.
What hopes do you have for the future of international education?
For others to understand how the culture and society of each country operate. How was the area developed, created, organized, etc. What makes each area of the world unique, outstanding, etc.
What qualities in program & host community relations are important to you? (And your organization?)
- Communication, ease, understanding, support, etc.
- Show a presence in all that we do, support for anything, communication when things are changing, etc.
- Being available.
