Ariel Tung | May 10, 2009
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The trip will be peppered with educational and leisure activities, according to Associate Dean for Undergraduate Studies Bonnie Brownlee, who will lead the trip.
The class work, with a focus on Chile, emphasizes the media environment in Latin America, including the historical, economic, political, legal and societal aspects. The media environment also includes journalism education: how the young are prepared for careers in the media industries.
“It is important for those who plan to be in media careers have a global perspective of things,” said Brownlee. “We are very fortunate to have the financial means to do this.”
Each student pays a portion of the trip’s costs and the School of Journalism picks up the rest. Director of Experiential Education and Recruitment Jessica Gall and Scott Myrick, director of the multimedia lab, also will accompany the students.
The eight-week, four-credit course is new this semester. Students spent the eight weeks in class studying and working on research to prepare for the trip, which runs from May 13-23.
While in Santiago, the group will visit El Mercurio, the oldest Spanish-language newspaper in Santiago; a CNN media outlet; Pontific’a Universidad Catolica, which has the only accredited journalism program outside the United States; and one of the residences of late Nobel Prize winner Pablo Neruda, who is one of the most influential poets of the 20th century.
“Students will be able to interact and share with students from Universidad Catolica,” Brownlee said. “They will learn from the perspective of journalism students in South America.”
Besides educational visits, students will have some time for leisure activities, such as a tour of Santiago. Brownlee said she has also arranged for a tour bus to take them to the coast, which is about two hour from the city. She expects students will relax and have some fun since they have completed their research projects before leaving. The students will report on their experiences for the school Web site while in Chile and upon their return.
Junior Vanessa Valentin said she is excited about the trip as she has always been interested in traveling and learning about other cultures.
“I want to see what Chile is like,” she said. “I hope to see the culture and the differences in their media from us. We have been studying that all semester but it will be interesting to see it first-hand.”
