Westminster University - Utah
ER-12: Sustainability Immersive Experience

Westminster offers many courses during the one month May Term that allow students to go on immersive trips. Several of the trips focus on sustainability. Courses offered in the past two years include: Hopi and Navajo Cultures Travel to Northern Arizona and Southern Utah: This course introduces students to Hopi and Navajo peoples. It includes social, educational, environmental, political, economic, artistic, health and caring aspects of their cultures. Special emphasis will be placed on the practical aspects of health care and observation in the schools. There will be a nine-day field trip designed for students to explore health issues, educational practices, and ecosystems on Hopi and Navajo reservations in northern Arizona and southern Utah. Students will visit Indian Health Services and private health care facilities, schools on reservations, Hopi and possibly Navajo families, museums, and possibly National Park sites. Students will participate in guided field and river trips. Students will also spend one day visiting related sites in Salt Lake City after the nine-day field experience. Students from all majors are welcome with the permission of the instructors. Insufficient enrollment or national or international situations may cause cancellation of this study tour. Natural Sciences of Hawaii This course will take a multidisciplinary approach to studying the island of Hawaii. Hawaii is one of the newest landmasses on Earth, and therefore can provide scientists with insights into how islands form and become inhabited. The fact that this is such a new natural environment does not, however, mean that it is pristine. Already this island is being adversely affected, not only by the natural elements, but also by commercial exploitation. An important aspect of our discussions will be not only how this island has formed, but also the responsibilities that people have for responsible stewardship of the island known as "America's Paradise." Concepts in Global Citizenship: Service Learning in Thailand The focus of this course will be to explore concepts in global citizenship and responsibility in the 21st century by understanding the educational, health and developmental needs of rural Thai citizens as well as indigenous populations through cultural immersion and active participation in service projects designed to provide benefits to the local peoples. Students will participate in service projects in two distinct rural Thai villages, one near the Burmese border in Mae Sot, and one in the rural Northeast near Khon Kaen, that will help alleviate some of the health, educational and developmental issues present, while staying with local families within the villages. Other activities will include tours of historically significant sites in Thailand, sightseeing in Bangkok as well as spending a day with Burmese refugee children at a refugee school and visiting an HIV/AIDS hospice. Students will meet during Spring Semester for preparatory sessions that will ready them for the experience. Course assignments will include reflective journaling, active discussions during the trip, and an online reflective multimedia project at the end of the trip.