Study Abroad

May 07 2021

After our 17 hour drive we settled in for our first couple days of learning. On Friday, we took a trip to Marianna — the city we would be spending our two weeks with Mennonite Disaster Service (MDS). We spent...

May 07 2021

Thursday May 6, 2021 Today’s lecture was about sponges, mainly focusing on Spheciospongia vesparium (loggerhead sponge) and Ircinia campera (vase sponge). Our morning visit was to the hard bottom sponge site. This habitat consisted of little soft sediment/sand with different...

May 07 2021

Wednesday May 5, 2021 Wednesday morning started like the others sunny and bright. Today’s morning lecture greeted us with the challenge of creating the complex food web of the epipelagic zone only using a brief outline and an article we...

May 06 2021

Harrison Gingerich, a senior from Canby, Oregon, is a Sustainable Food Systems major.  In this post, he recounts key parts of a Zoom presentation by one of our indigenous speakers: Scott Shoemaker is a member of the Miami, a group...

May 05 2021

Jan Bender Shetler, director of global engagement, received a grant this month from the National Endowment for the Humanities for a Goshen College-led collaboration with Michigan State University (MSU) to digitize an oral history collection from the Mara region of…

May 05 2021

Tuesday May 4, 2021 On Tuesday morning, the sun was shining and the temperature was 81 degrees. In our first class of the day we discussed seagrass ecology and biology, as well as the benefits and threats to the seagrass...

May 04 2021

Monday, May 3, 2021 – The Bight The day began with a brief discussion on our observations and thoughts from our first snorkeling session on Sunday. Out of this conversation came the realization for the group that while there is...

May 03 2021

Ben Zimmerman is the author of today’s blog post.  Ben is a senior Sustainability Management major from Archbold, Ohio. May has finally arrived as spring is in full bloom here in Goshen. We started the week off with a leisurely...

May 03 2021

Sunday May 2, 2021 The Marine Biology class of 9 students has arrived and 0ur course has begun! Given the challenges over the last year, it has been a long wait for our students. Last May in 2020, their trip...

Apr 30 2021

Today’s post is written by Naomi Willis, a senior nursing major from Mishawaka, Indiana: We were honored to have a guest speaker, Rich Meyer, give our Indigenous Economies class some insight on the Potawatomi tribe and their land. Before we...

Apr 30 2021

Today’s post is written by Haylee Pennington, a junior nursing major from Wakarusa, Indiana: Serviceberries, from the local native Amelanchier arborea, have many varieties which are all edible and insanely delicious. We were able to visit the Reith Interpretive Center...

Apr 29 2021

Our first day of the May Term was spent outdoors, hiking along the Elkhart River for several miles, learning about a plant called the Serviceberry with the director of Environmental Resilience in the city of Goshen, and wondering aloud what...

Apr 28 2021

In this course, students work with Mennonite Disaster Service to help a community in Florida rebuild after Hurricane Michael and reflect on ways to respond that are ethical, sustainable and respectful. They also carry out a community based research project…

Apr 27 2021

We’re trying something new this year,  a Cultural Perspectives course based on the Goshen College campus with the bulk of our time spent outdoors.  We’ve planned a series of day trips, experiential learning opportunities and overnight camping adventures, with a...

Mar 21 2020

Goshen College has been working around the clock to bring students home from study abroad in Tanzania and Ecuador after travel restrictions were precipitously announced due to the pandemic response.

Mar 20 2020

They have boarded the plane and left Tanzania.  Praise be to God!

Mar 19 2020

What is “Service”.  The concept of service in a North American context generally revolves around productivity.  In our lead-up to service with the current Ecuador SST group, we spoke at length about what service is and is not in a...

Mar 17 2020

As many of you have heard, we will be leaving Tanzania early because of the increasing restrictions on international travel due to COVID-19.  This is so hard, since our students are really feeling a sense of purpose and belonging in...

Mar 16 2020

Today is Emma’s birthday!  YAY!!!  On Saturday, we had the students, who are living close enough to Musoma,  join Emma for some birthday cake and celebration.   The cake was passion fruit-flavored (Oh My Yum!!!). 

Mar 01 2020

Just as this tour began, it ends with a full day of sunny waves, soft sand, good food and—wait for it—overnight travel. For many of us, this morning was bittersweet as we said goodbye to our wonderful host families before...

Mar 01 2020

Sorry this post took a little longer than I expected.  We had an interesting week dealing with electricity to our house.  But, we are back!! Also, sorry this is a LONG post with LOTS of photos and a few videos. ...

Feb 27 2020

Day 6 in Puerto Rico started bright and early! We met at 6:45 a.m. and headed to Summit Hills Mennonite Academy (Academia Menonita). It was a beautiful morning filled with sunshine. Academia Menonita is where Lisa Rosada Rivera went to...

Feb 26 2020

We began our Wednesday at the beautiful Robinson school where we sang for middle and high school students. Their shiny gymnasium held especially good acoustics, resonating our voices as well as the reactions of those in the audience. As mentioned...

Feb 26 2020

Tuesday was yet another busy day filled with music, new experiences and fun. In the morning, we woke up to the pitter-patter of rain in San Juan. Our host families graciously drove us through the rain and the heavy traffic...