State’s Baptist schools take students, classes overseas for studies, missions

Thomas Wilson, chair of the biology department at Judson College in Marion, was not satisfied to just show his students pictures of Costa Rica. He wanted them to experience the hot springs, watch the tropical birds and maybe even witness an erupting volcano.
   
Wilson and his wife, Doris, have traveled to Costa Rica many times. They love the culture and environment of the Central American country. But one trip in early 2005 was meant for more than fun. It was specifically designed to give them insight in developing an international learning experience for Judson students.
   
In April 2007, the Wilsons and a group of Judson students will set out on a 15-day journey to the humid climate of Costa Rica, marking the school’s first study abroad trip to the country.
   
Prior to the trip, Wilson will offer a lecture designed to teach students the natural history of Costa Rica with an emphasis on the identification of birds. Those who choose to participate in the overseas adventure will gain two extra credit hours through the study abroad course on the tropical ecosystems of Costa Rica.
   
With this program in place, all of Alabama’s three Baptist colleges are now taking their classrooms off American soil and into the realm of experiential education. Every year, they are trading more and more dry-erase boards and desks for meetings in ancient cities and around waterfalls and erupting volcanoes. Their agenda is to make book knowledge become a real-world experience. 
   
Katherine Abernathy, assistant professor of English at the University of Mobile (UM), is one of those professors taking her classroom overseas.
   
Abernathy — who wanted students in the university’s humanities honors program to learn about Western thought and cultures firsthand — led a group of six UM students on a tour of Greece and Italy May 8–22. They toured the cities of Athens, Greece; and Venice, Florence and Rome, Italy. They visited sites such as the Uffizi Gallery and Accademia Museum, both in Florence, and the Roman Forum in Rome. 
   
The students earned three hours of honors credit as they toured these Mediterranean cities.
   
“This (trip) will give students the opportunity to experience firsthand the things that they’ve studied,” said Abernathy, who is assistant director of the honors program. “I believe that the most important thing the students will take away from this trip will be a tangible sense of how current the ancient things really are.” 
   
UM has been planning international trips for academic credit since the early 1990s. Each year, the School of Christian Studies gives students the opportunity to earn credit hours through UM’s missions program, sponsoring missions trips around the world. This year, teams traveled to Greece and Niger in May and will travel to such places as Malaysia and Brazil in June and Wales and Norway in July. 
   
“I think ours is among the few programs of its kind, if not the only one, that offers students academic credit for cross-cultural missions experience. As an added incentive, all cross-cultural missions courses (missions trips) are offered to students at half tuition,” said Cecil Taylor, dean of the School of Christian Studies.
   
These trips are also open to members of local churches, and to date, approximately 45 churches from several states have participated in the trips.
   
Samford University in Birmingham offers a variety of overseas study programs to its students, including the opportunity to spend an entire semester overseas earning college credit in London.
   
The university’s language study abroad programs allow students to immerse themselves in their language and culture of choice by living with families overseas. 
   
Trips are sponsored to Spain, Morocco, Hong Kong, France, Germany, Japan, Costa Rica, Ecuador and the Peruvian Amazon. Foreign internships are also available in the areas of language missions and language and world trade.
   
Also at Samford, the university’s British study tour offers a small group of collegians a month-long research trip for college credit. The first week is spent in London visiting the major record offices and libraries, the second week in Dublin, Ireland, and the third in Belfast, Northern Ireland. This year’s trip is scheduled for June 29–July 22.
   
While not all university-sponsored trips qualify students for college credit, they do “enhance the students’ overall college experience by exploring and learning in different cultures,” according to Kathy Dean, director of public relations for UM.
   
UM’s Center for Performing Arts periodically takes its musical groups overseas. Seventy-five members of the University Singers, Voices of Mobile and Ram Corps participated in a missions tour of Germany in May. They performed at schools, military bases and churches. Another unique trip allows SOUNDS of Mobile, the school’s show choir, to sing aboard a cruise ship while following the path of the apostle Paul’s travels.
   
For the second consecutive year, Neal Ledbetter, director of campus ministries at UM, will lead a small group of UM students on a month-long backpacking missions trip through Europe, visiting Paris; Amsterdam, Netherlands; Grindelwald, Switzerland; and Venice, Florence, Pisa and Rome in Italy. 
   
They will stay in youth hostels as they build relationships with other college-age students and share the message of Jesus Christ. They will be writing a blog (web log) about their experience, which can be read at www.umobile.edu.