{"id":21464,"date":"2014-09-08T23:37:28","date_gmt":"2014-09-09T03:37:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/?p=21464"},"modified":"2014-09-22T11:00:18","modified_gmt":"2014-09-22T15:00:18","slug":"in-rotary-talk-swartzendruber-explains-why-emu-began-sending-its-students-on-cross-culturals-decades-ago","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2014\/in-rotary-talk-swartzendruber-explains-why-emu-began-sending-its-students-on-cross-culturals-decades-ago\/","title":{"rendered":"In Rotary talk, Swartzendruber explains why EMU began sending its students on ‘cross-culturals’ decades ago"},"content":{"rendered":"

For more than 30 years, undergraduates at Eastern Mennonite University have been required to immerse themselves in a culture different from their own before graduation. This unusual requirement was the focus of a luncheon address by EMU President Loren Swartzendruber<\/a> on September 8.<\/p>\n

Speaking to about 100 members of the Rotary Club of Harrisonburg<\/a> dining at Spotswood Country Club, Swartzendruber offered several stories to explain the transformative impact of the cross-cultural experience<\/a>, including one involving his son Steven.<\/p>\n

Steven did his cross-cultural in Central America as a 20-year-old in the spring of his junior year. Inspired by that experience, he did a year-long service stint in Mexico after graduating in 2000. There he lived with a family whose host mother became ill. Steven was holding her hand when she died.\"\" He returned to EMU to earn an MDiv in 2005. Today, as a 36-year-old hospice chaplain, he often relives his Mexico experience by being present for, often holding the hands of, people who are dying.<\/p>\n

For students who feel unable to spend a semester off campus, such as some collegiate athletes, Swartzendruber said EMU offers shorter-term possibilities, often during the summer.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut we would prefer that our students do their cross-cultural internationally and for a full semester,\u201d he said, adding that \u201cinternationally\u201d typically means in a second- or third-world country, rather than in a \u201cposh\u201d location.<\/p>\n

He cited standout volleyball player Sara Ritchie<\/a> \u2013 who graduated from a local public high school \u2013 for choosing to go to Spain and Morocco<\/a> in the fall of 2013, though she missed a season of playing. The cross-cultural sparked her interest in doing three years of service in Central America after she graduates this academic year.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t send them as a single student to take a course in a university on their own,\u201d he said. EMU sends students as a cohort, accompanied by a faculty or staff member who typically has years of experience in that culture.<\/p>\n

The first question from the audience after Swartzendruber\u2019s talk pertained to the process by which EMU selects the homes where students stay during their cross-culturals.<\/p>\n

The president noted that the university\u2019s decades of experience with these trips, coupled with the on-the-ground knowledge of the EMU trip leaders, has enabled the university to build up a base of host families and to know how to locate other suitable families as needed.<\/p>\n

Another questioner wanted to know about opportunities for people from other countries to study at EMU. Swartzendruber cited EMU\u2019s Intensive English Program<\/a>, which has attracted more than 1,000 students from 62 countries since it began in 1989 and is one of the fastest-growing programs at EMU. Once these IEP students have mastered English, they often go on to enroll at EMU or at other area colleges and universities.<\/p>\n

He also spoke of EMU\u2019s 20-year-old Summer Peacebuilding Institute<\/a>, which hosted 184 students from 36 countries in 2014. Since its founding, the institute has brought more than 2,800 participants from 121 countries to Harrisonburg.<\/p>\n

Finally, he noted that about 37 percent of EMU\u2019s incoming class is \u201cdiverse,\u201d meaning they are not Caucasians from the United States.<\/p>\n

The luncheon wrapped up with a Rotarian offering his congratulations to EMU for having a Nobel Peace Prize winner (Leymah Gbowee)<\/a> and a sitting president of a country (Somalia)<\/a> among its alumni group.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For more than 30 years, undergraduates at Eastern Mennonite University have been required to immerse themselves in a culture different from their own before graduation. This unusual requirement was the ... read more about In Rotary talk, Swartzendruber explains why EMU began sending its students on ‘cross-culturals’ decades ago<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":112,"featured_media":21465,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5583,5642,5623],"tags":[14214,17237,10067,6069,5727,14496,17235],"feature":[],"class_list":["post-21464","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-campus-community","category-faculty-and-staff","category-special-programs","tag-cross-cultural-program","tag-iep","tag-leymah-gbowee","tag-loren-swartzendruber","tag-office-of-the-president","tag-sara-ritchie","tag-spi"],"yoast_head":"\nIn Rotary talk, Swartzendruber explains why EMU began sending its students on 'cross-culturals' decades ago - EMU News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2014\/in-rotary-talk-swartzendruber-explains-why-emu-began-sending-its-students-on-cross-culturals-decades-ago\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"In Rotary talk, Swartzendruber explains why EMU began sending its students on 'cross-culturals' decades ago - EMU News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"For more than 30 years, undergraduates at Eastern Mennonite University have been required to immerse themselves in a culture different from their own before graduation. 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