SVL105

This international service-learning experience combines manual labor, reflective intellectual work, and recreation with structured and unstructured encounters with business owners, farm workers, university students, city officials, and home stay sponsors in two sites in Veracruz, Mexico. Over the course of two weeks of interviews, work, and recreation with these local experts, our purpose is to learn about another culture and ourselves. The goal of service-learning in Veracruz is not to change Mexico, but to learn from Mexicans about Mexico and about the impact of the United States on our neighbors. The intensive program meets the following educational objectives: leadership development; direct and often hands-on exposure to issues of social justice, the global economy, and the environment as well as the culture, social structure, and lifestyle in Mexico; Spanish language and cultural knowledge; interdisciplinary and team-based problem-solving. The trip takes place during the January b