Surry Community College offers a Scholar of Global Distinction program for students who wish to expand their knowledge of cultures outside of the United States.
Participating in the statewide UNC Chapel Hill World View program, Surry’s global distinction program makes it the 18th community college to do so.
Students who wish to graduate as a Scholar of Global Distinction must first complete 15 credit hours of globally intensive courses, complete 30 hours of cultural immersion, and attend at least eight cultural events during their time at the college. In addition, a 10- to 15-minute capstone presentation must be completed detailing a student’s time in their cultural studies.
The aforementioned cultural events are special presentations in which a speaker talks in detail about a country they are familiar with. About 30 of these events are held each year. Attendance is not limited to students wishing to become a scholar of global distinction.
“Our entire student body, campus community, and even people out in the larger community benefit from these cultural events we have,” said Sarah Wright, languages and humanities lead instructor. “When we were doing things in the auditorium, we had many people from the community come to the events. It really is an opportunity for everyone in the community to learn from other people and really educate the entire student, not just on one subject, and make sure they are learning about the world.”
In two years of operation, the program has had 23 graduates. Wright predicts that this year will add 12 to 15 more graduates, bringing the total number to nearly 40 in three years.
“Last year we had 17 graduates, more graduates than anyone in the state. This is a source of pride for us because we are not one of the larger community colleges, we are a smaller community college and we had more graduates than anyone else in the program,” Wright said.
While the required cultural immersion is primarily associated with travelling abroad, students also have the option of participating in domestic intercultural experiences aimed to challenge a student’s perspective on the culture they live in.
”It’s really the skills that they gain and the knowledge that they gain that’s so invaluable to them. They’re able to interact with people from a variety of cultures and they’ll be able to work in a variety of avenues and go to a variety of four year colleges that are increasingly globalized,” Wright said.
Source: https://www.mtairynews.com