Center for global citizenship

Story by Scott Parsons I Cambodia 2013 Photos by Sarah Goolishian

world cla Advanced international curriculum allows Hathaway Brown’s Global Scholars to travel the world, become immersed in other cultures, and see themselves in a whole new light

hen Danielle Frankel ’13 traveled to Italy with other Hathaway Brown Global Scholars during Spring Break of her senior year, she didn’t expect that she’d end up weeping before a crowd of tourists at the Vatican.

But when she was standing in front of Caravaggio’s “The Entombment of Christ,” a painting she had seen and discussed countless times in Jamie Morse’s Art History class, it was if she were seeing it for the first time. And she was overcome with emotion.

“I had studied it so much, and here it was, and I could see that those were his brush strokes. I was standing there in awe, actual awe,” she says. “I didn’t realize it, but I had started crying and I couldn’t stop.”

Prior to heading to Italy, Danielle’s knowledge and appreciation of Renaissance masterpieces had grown, and the Art History class had helped prepare her to make the most of her time in Rome.

“With Mr. Morse, passion is contagious,” she enthuses. When she spoke about the trip and how excited she was to view some of

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“ Home is something much bigger than the house we grow up in.�

Emblazoned on the wall of Joe Vogel’s classroom are Socrates’ famous words:

“I am a citizen, not of Athens or Greece,

but of the world.” the paintings she had been studying, her father said it sounded as if Danielle were getting ready to see old friends.

The international travel opportunities organized through HB’s Center for Global Citizenship allow students to leave behind all that is taken for granted and familiar. As a result, they learn a great deal not only about other cultures but also about themselves.

After all, these are not tourist vacations but deep cultural immersions that perhaps at first might seem a bit unsettling. Ultimately they lead to the students transcending their limits and realizing their potential as global citizens.

Tapping into his own extensive international travel knowledge and planning expertise, and enlisting the support of his colleagues throughout the Upper School in setting the stage, CGC Director Joe Vogel structures

what he calls “purposeful” international excursions. In the end, the journeys undertaken are not simply sequences of random stops; they add up to significant collective experiences.

According to Alden Cowap ’13, who traveled to Cambodia in her junior year, questioning who you are and what you are capable of is what these programs are all about. She noted the country seems to be at a possible turning point for economic and social development, with people living in villages without access to modern plumbing or other conveniences, as large new buildings (being constructed with Chinese money) can be seen rising in the distance. This caused her to reflect in ways she didn’t anticipate. “When you cut the things that tether you and ground you to the person you are,” she says, “when you remove yourself from all the things you think make you who you are, you start to wonder,

‘What do I actually legitimately think?’”

Elana Scott ’14 agrees. When asked to identify her favorite part of the June 2013 CGC program in Cambodia, she said, “You can’t even separate anything out. The whole trip was a completely integrated experience that changed my life.”

Vogel works closely with the teachers who chaperone and guide the students, as they visit the country themselves first and establish the itinerary and educational programming. Each of the CGC programs has a highly intentional curriculum, which is mapped out in pre- and post-program meetings and reinforced through journaling throughout the experience. In Cambodia, for instance, the girls did not find themselves relaxing on beaches but rather working with HIV-positive children in an orphanage. And a meal overseas might occur not in an exotic

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“ The whole trip was a completely integrated experience that

changed my life.�

After all, these are not tourist vacations, but

deep cultural immersions that perhaps at first might seem a bit unsettling. Ultimately they lead to the students transcending their limits and realizing their potential as global citizens.

restaurant but standing at a bus stop at an intersection of dirt roads lined with street vendors. That’s where Alden, a vegetarian, found herself eating a slightly dusty tarantula leg.

The entire Global Scholar experience blends academic study with experiential learning.

HB’s Global Scholars spend three years discussing the pressing global issues playing out in the world today – everything from trans-border crime in Mexico to the Arab Spring, and from oceanic conflict to the rise of Indonesia. Then they take a senior capstone history course in which they pursue an individual area of interest in Art History, Economics, International Relations, Contemporary World Literature, or a host of other options.

Alden explains, “The trip to Cambodia was the most amazing two weeks of my life. We got to experience a culture so completely different and got to be present at a pivotal point in the country’s history. You know all of this context before you get there, but then

Of her time in Italy, Sarah Adler ’14 recalls that instead of retreating to the confines of her third-floor room, she explored the hallways of the building where she was staying and was drawn to the beams of light that poured through a doorframe in the distance. Reminding herself of her desire to seize opportunities to explore the unknown, she became increasingly confident as she moved toward the door at the end of the hallway, unbolted, and pushed on it “until the door swung open with a crack – and there it was: the roof of the Vesuvian Institute.”

Over and over, Sarah returned there to read and think and soak in the beautiful and expansive view.

Zoe Harvan ’13 likewise made important discoveries about herself and her world on the other side of timidity. As someone who prefers calm over chaos and small groups of people over large crowds, Zoe found the Pakistani border-closing ceremony a little scary when she traveled to India with her classmates. But she immediately felt lucky to have experienced it. And looking back a year later, Zoe says, “all of that being-out-of-mycomfort-zone-ness personally made me feel a lot more capable and brave afterward.”

Emblazoned on the wall of Joe Vogel’s classroom are Socrates’ famous words: “I am a citizen, not of Athens or Greece, but of the world.”

Alden says the first thing you realize through these international CGC programs is that you can survive. Then you realize you can actually thrive. Isabelle wrote in her travel journal that “the risks of breaking out of your comfort zone aren’t nearly as dangerous as the risks of staying within it your whole life.” She says that she and her peers “returned home with a strong – almost loyal – understanding of the culture, history, and way of life. Home is something much bigger than the house we grow up in.”

Zoe marvels that through her involvement with HB’s Center for Global Citizenship, she has had the chance to meet so many people, and to be touched by their kindness and welcoming spirit. “I don’t know why it’s surprising when people from other places act the same as people from home, but it is,” she says. “When I think of the places I’ve visited, especially in Spain and India where I stayed with families, I get homesick. The trips have made me understand that I can make homes wherever I go.”

Whether they’re experiencing history in the making in a third-world country, gazing at brushstrokes made by an artist from another time and place, or feeling at home in the Far East, HB students discover that the world— and their part to play in it—surpasses even the wildest imagination.

To learn more about HB’s Center for Global Citizenship, please visit www.hb.edu/global.

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Strangely enough, this kind of boundarystretching is not a rare or unusual feature of these programs but one of their central characteristics. Isabelle Arnson ’13 wrote in her journal while she was in Cambodia, “There’s literally no reason not to embrace every opportunity, to try new things.” Far away from their home country and the norms of their daily lives, the girls begin to discover the size and scope of the larger world and their place in it.

you experience it. My favorite part of the trip was Cambodia itself.”

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