{"id":329,"date":"2021-04-02T16:54:38","date_gmt":"2021-04-02T20:54:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/pxd\/?p=329"},"modified":"2021-04-19T18:12:31","modified_gmt":"2021-04-19T22:12:31","slug":"local-and-global-practicum-experiences-prepare-emus-next-generation-of-peacebuilders-by-christopher-clymer-kurtz","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/pxd\/2021\/04\/02\/local-and-global-practicum-experiences-prepare-emus-next-generation-of-peacebuilders-by-christopher-clymer-kurtz\/","title":{"rendered":"Local and global practicum experiences prepare EMU\u2019s next generation of peacebuilders by Christopher Clymer Kurtz"},"content":{"rendered":"

We are highlighting student experiences and practicums on the PXD Blog and so are re-posting this piece originally published February 7, 2018, at EMU News<\/a>. Above <\/em>Ben Rush works with practicum supervisor Jonathan McRay at Blacks Run Forest Farm in Harrisonburg. Rush, a peacebuilding and development major, spent the fall 2017 semester practicing a diverse array of skills, from plant cultivation and sustainable agriculture to ecology education and restorative justice practices. The practicum experience is required of all peacebuilding and development majors. (Photos by Andrew Strack) <\/em><\/p>\n

Writing an instructional manual about growing and using elderberries for medicinal syrups may not look like peacebuilding at first glance, but Eastern Mennonite University senior Ben Rush\u2019s practicum last fall had broad implications.<\/p>\n

Peacebuilding and development (PXD) majors<\/a>\u00a0complement their classroom studies with semester-long practicum placements that offer on-the-job training. Graduates have entered professional fields such as civil rights law, public policy, education, human rights, humanitarian action and others.<\/p>\n

Among those PXD graduates making big impacts:\u00a0\u00a0Jessica Sarriot \u201911<\/a>\u00a0studies\u00a0public policy at Princeton University; Weber State economics professor\u00a0Matt Gnagey \u201905<\/a>;\u00a0and\u00a0Larisa Zehr\u00a0\u201911<\/a>\u00a0is a\u00a0law student at Northeastern University.<\/p>\n

For his placement, Rush worked at the Blacks Run Forest Farm with founder\u00a0Jonathan McRay<\/a>, a 2013 graduate of the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding. The farm fosters the societal embodiment of \u201ca culture of trees: abundant, diverse, renewing, mutual, slow, rooted, cyclical, nurturing and deeply connected underground.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to writing the manual, Rush helped with tree propagation in the nursery and worked with school groups to plant a riparian orchard and thin unwanted species from streamside areas.<\/p>\n

Real-world placements<\/strong><\/p>\n

Such real-world opportunities abound in EMU\u2019s peacebuilding and development program\u2019s lineup of practicums \u2014 there have been 60 since 2007.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhether in Colombia, Washington D.C., or here in Harrisonburg, our students have unique opportunities to develop practical skills, gain professional experience, and wrestle with the burning issues of our time,\u201d said Professor\u00a0Timothy Seidel<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The experience helps to ground students in skills learned in the classroom: mediation, conflict analysis, program evaluation, group facilitation, community assessment and events organization. In addition to Blacks Run Forest Farm, local placements have included EMU\u2019s\u00a0Summer Peacebuilding Institute<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Center for Interfaith Engagement<\/a>, The Fairfield Center, New Bridges Immigrant Resource Center, and James Madison University\u2019s Mahatma Gandhi Center for Global Nonviolence.\u00a0A more comprehensive list of practicum sites is available here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Further afield, students have fulfilled practicum requirements with internships through the Washington D.C.-based\u00a0Washington Community Scholars\u2019 Center<\/a>\u00a0at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, World Vision, N Street Village, Maryland Citizens Against State Executions and Voices for a Second Chance, a nonprofit that empowers the incarcerated, returning citizens and their families in the transition into the Washington D.C. community.\u00a0Read more about D.C. internships here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Several other students have spent time with\u00a0Justapaz in Bogota, Colombia.<\/p>\n

Local and unique<\/strong><\/p>\n

The 150-hour placement gave Rush a unique opportunity less than two miles from campus: In addition to learning practical skills for cultivating plants, he could work side by side with people who would guide him through conversations about both restorative justice and \u201cresisting oppressive behaviors and institutions, in a diverse neighborhood where people are trying to live well together,\u201d said the forest farm\u2019s co-founder Jonathan McRay.<\/p>\n

The experience, said Rush, allowed him to see \u201crestorative justice ideas taken and practiced in creative and effective ways.\u201d<\/p>\n

It also furthered the farm\u2019s mission, with \u201cmore growing plants to spread throughout our community to provide food, fuel, medicine, mulch, air conditioning, carbon converting, water healing and beauty,\u201d said McRay.<\/p>\n

Plus, the elderberry manual will be \u201ca great resource for the farm to share with folks interested in buying the plant from us or in cultivating it themselves and knowing exactly how to use the ripe berries,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Read more<\/h3>\n