CEHD News

For the past 10 years, Margaret Pentecost, Assistant Dean for Education and Student Services, has spent many of her spring breaks working in Belize through UofL’s International Service Learning Program. “This program has the same effect on most people who participate. You go once, and you just have to keep going back because the work is so rewarding.”

The International Service Learning Program (ISLP) is an interdisciplinary and cultural experience that provides students, staff and faculty the opportunity to participate in a program that addresses human and community needs. The program has been focused in Belize since 2000.

A common theme of Community Health, Safety, and Education provides the framework of the interdisciplinary projects. The purpose of the ISLP to provide an international project for 40 faculty and students that integrates interdisciplinary academic preparation, service, reflection, and products that the community can use to build and improve the lives of the citizens of the community. ISLP is one of the most unique courses and programs nationally in its interdisciplinary curriculum and service components.

Interdisciplinary Approach to Projects

This year, eight students and two faculty members from the College of Education spent their spring break working on projects in the Stann Creek District villages of Independence, Red Bank, and Georgetown. “There is a very strong emphasis on interdisciplinary work in this program. So dental, communications, justice administration and education students and faculty work together on every project,” stated Pentecost.

For example, Marcus Blakeney, a teacher education student at the college, helped organize an Orienteering class, along with dental and justice administration students, for a seventh grade class in one of the schools in Independence. The group taught students how to use compasses, create maps, graphs and locate landmarks set up near their school grounds.

“As a teacher, it taught me that students develop in the same ways universally, and they are hungry to learn. It was an honor to work with them for the three days I was in Red Bank Village,” said Blakeney.

Eileen Estes and a group of her Expressive Therapy students and justice administration students worked on an intervention project at three different schools. One of the schools was a large primary school serving many from the Creole population, another was a smaller school in the Mayan community and the third was a Garifuna school. Each school had very specific cultural differences but similar problems with bullying and peer relationships.

“We were asked by the teachers to create a program that would address the problems of conflict and aggression among the students in their classrooms,” said Estes. “We also had to take into consideration the wide range of developmental and age differences within each class.”

The expressive therapy team used art, a universal language, to enhance pro-social behavior among a group of 144 students aged 9-14 years old. They asked each child to choose what animal that represented them the most. The students were then asked how all the different animals could live together in the same area. The exercise prompted the children to be more aware of their similarities rather than their differences.

“One of the teachers told me this was the first time since the beginning of school that all students remained engaged for two hours,” said Estes.

The program was designed to be easily transferred to each school and placed into effect immediately. The team also conducts professional development session for teachers and they are given lesson plans and materials in order to continue to apply the work in their classrooms. All the materials taken to the schools are left for classroom use.

“Families really place a big emphasis on education. They do not have to pay for school until after the eighth grade but students must pass a test before moving on to the next grades. If they do not pass the test, they cannot go on to the next grade. But they are allowed to take the test again,” said Estes. When students complete high school, many go on to a trade school and a few will go to Belize University.

“It is truly a life-changing experience. I didn’t go as an art therapist. I went there as someone who wanted to learn as much as I could about a different culture, a way of life and education. The people have a great sense of pride in their families and villages and are happy despite the poverty,” stated Estes.

Unexpected Benefits

“There have also been times when we have found solutions to issues we weren’t asked to address,” stated Pentecost.

For example, dental office visits are rare for most of the people in these areas. So for many who come to the clinics during these trips, it is their first time. They don’t know what to expect and are usually very apprehensive. Some of the expressive therapy students noticed how upset the children who were waiting had become. So they began using art therapy to calm them down. The technique was so successful that Dr. David Jones, dental faculty, stated he wanted to use this technique with his phobic patients.

“I am an expressive therapy student who got to work with the dental staff in the clinic and was amazed at what a difference their work made in people’s lives,” said Taylor Schmidt.

“A 75-year-old woman came to us from her village in the mountains to have two teeth pulled. She had never been to a dentist in her life and could only speak her native language. But she understood enough to know this was going to be a big help to her,” stated Schmidt.

“This trip has a tremendous impact on every student and faculty member who participate. It really changes their lives, how they see the world, and their perception of service,” said Pentecost.

Other CEHD students who made the trip to Belize were: Matthew Wollman , Chenoweth Allen , Jessica Harman, Beth Henson and Kathleen Kleinert. All are graduate students in the Expressive Therapy program.

Faculty, staff and students who participate in the program must attend a nine-week orientation and complete one of the required courses for the program before going to Belize. To learn more about the ISLP, visit, http://louisville.edu/student/isl.