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Behind the Scenes
CEDARHURST MEMBER VISIT GO CHAMBER TEAM PHOTO MIDDAY WITH MIKE
CHAMBER TEAM OUT & ABOUT CHAMBER BOARD MEETING WITH SENATOR RAND PAUL
COVID-19 VACCINES
BEHIND THE SCENES
CHAMBER YOUNG PROFESSIONALS
ROOSTER BOOSTER
LEADERSHIP OWENSBORO
For the first time Owensboro Community & Technical College (OCTC) is participating in the Global Solutions Sustainability Challenge, where community colleges from the U.S., Jordan, or Iraq team up to take on the global challenges inspired by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). An exciting first meeting of the Global Solutions Conversations program took place Wednesday, March 3, 2021.
Faculty facilitator, Sawsan Al Najjar and students from the Kharwarizmi University Technical College in Amman, Jordan met virtually with students from OCTC. Jim Johnson, Spanish faculty member and Co-chair of the OCTC Diversity/Global Studies Committee, initiated this exciting opportunity and served as facilitator. Faculty members Dr. Bob Glenn, Communications, and Michael Boyd, Business Administration, are co-facilitators. Helen Bennett, Experiential Learning Center (ELC) Coordinator, assisted in recruiting, showcasing, and promotion of the event, The ELC was developed with funding from a Department of Education Title III Strengthening Institutions Grant.
These conversations will happen through five binational virtual meetings over a period of six to ten weeks. Students from the United States, Jordan and Iraq will choose one of the 17 initiatives or SDG and progress into the next level of the Global Solutions program. This selection of projects includes many current social justice issues and will provide relevant, hands-on learning to develop student job skills through the binational virtual exchange.
Johnson stated, “The purpose of this program is to provide a unique virtual exchange experience for students to practice empathy and crosscultural communication skills as they learn about design thinking and ideate a sustainable solution to a real problem in the community. As our world becomes smaller, the skill of cross-cultural communication is increasingly important for engaging with colleagues, employers, and community members. Virtual exchange affords an opportunity for students to interact with their peers from another country and develop cross-cultural communication without having to physically travel.”
Arabic is the first language of the Jordanian students: English could be their second or third language. Students prepared for the meetings with videos, study questions, and basic guidelines provided by Global Solutions. Dress was business casual for the virtual meetings.
Prior to their first virtual engagement, Bennett shared, Jordan the Country, a video produced by Mosaic Holiday. Jordan is a country rich in history, beauty, and culture. It is a mix of modern new age entertainment, historical and biblical stories and rich Roman architecture. The vast Wadi Rum desert is home to ancient architecture like the Treasury of Petra, used in iconic movies like Indiana Jones and The Mummy Returns. Though it has a rich history, there are equally as many modern experiences to enjoy in Jordan’s commercial center, Amman. The 2019 metro area population of Amman was 2,109,000. Jordan’s population that same year was 9,531,712. It is vast country and borders Israel and the Dead Sea.
OCTC students reflected on the experience thus far, Bethany Galloway commented, “Jordan is in a time zone eight hours ahead of us, so the meeting took place at the end of their day, yet the student’s eagerly participated in the conversation in their second language.” Thomas Vessels added, “Correcting cultural misconceptions is one of the major benefits of this program, as it helps to reduce the roadblocks to international communication created by stereotypes.” Antoine Smith-Rouse stated, “As a result of this experience, I have begun to research and broaden my perceptions.”
The final Global Solutions Conversation is set for Tuesday, April 6. It will be a joint meeting with all of the participating colleges from Iraq, Jordan, and the United States. To learn more about the Global Solutions project visit https://www.irex.org/project/global-solutions. To learn more about OCTC’s Experiential Learning Center and the opportunities available contact Helen. Bennett@kctcs.edu or call 270-852-8164.
JACKIE MCCARTHY
OCTC EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING CENTER
