Reflections of the teacher/learner

This will be the 5th year that Christine Stauber has led the Collective Health, Race and Culture in Salvador Bahia, Brazil study abroad program. Each year she has worked tirelessly to recruit students, plan activities, arrange meetings and ultimately ensure that the students who participate in the program, have the best academic and cultural experience possible. The dynamic team of Christine and Clara Ramos, Executive Director and Founder of ICRBrasil, ensures that the experience is well planned and executed with excellence. Our students are very fortunate to have Christine as a program director. and Clara as a program planner in Salvador.

I have been fortunate to work along side of Christine as a co-director for 3 of the 5 years. Study abroad is life changing… both Christine and I know this because as students we had the opportunity to study abroad and it was life changing for us. In the course of these 5 years we have worked with more than 50 students to push the limits of how they see the world and navigate through life.  Sure there are academic benefits to traveling and studying a discipline, in our case Public Health, but there are life lessons that our students learn as well. Their growth occurs in how they see themselves, how they negotiate interpersonal differences, how they expand their views of what is “normal”.  It is a blessing to be able to be a part of this journey with them.  But guess what there is soooo much growth that happens for me as well. As an instructor, too often I am seen as an “expert” the person with the answers, but that is more times than not a false idea. Each opportunity to work with new students provides an opportunity for me to learn from them as well.  I am so very grateful to have the opportunity to use my gifts to work with young people. I look forward to what the future holds for us and our students.