Global Engagement

May 07 2022

Eleven students arrived on Tuesday after a long day of travel. We left Miami airport at 7pm and arrived in Layton at the Fiesta Key RV resort at 9pm. We will stay at this resort while exciting renovations are completed...

May 06 2022

All twenty London students arrived safe and sound (if a bit sleepy) yesterday morning around 8:30am British Summer Time. I (Peter) met them at the airport, and we took a bus into city center. Our lodgings are at St Athans,...

Apr 13 2022

We wrapped up our semester with a weekend full of reflections, discussions, relaxing and fun at El Refugio where we had the decompression and processing time we needed to close out our time together here in Ecuador. Thanks to those...

Apr 13 2022

There are only a few kaki lima, or street food stands, near the campus of Universitas Nusa Cendana (UNDANA) where I am located for my service assignment, and outside my neighborhood along the busy coastal road the little mobile stalls...

Apr 13 2022

These photos are from a short adventure I had about a week and a half ago with one of the friends I have made here, Titan, and one of the teachers at the university that has been helping me navigate...

Apr 08 2022

During the service portion of SST, I have been volunteering at a foundation called Su Cambio Por El Cambio (SCXC) in a little town called San Simon. SCXC’s primary missions are to provide a safe after school environment for local...

Mar 30 2022

In January, I took a 3-day trip with my host family in Quito, Paola (host-mom) and Sammy (host-sister). It took 2.5 hours to get to Santo Domingo de los Tsachilas. We took the Cordillera de Los Andes road. This very...

Mar 28 2022

Before we left for SST, we were told to prepare some gifts for our host family. The suggestion we got was to prepare some things from Goshen or our College. But at that time the bookstore was already closed. I...

Mar 26 2022

Nina and I keep in touch regularly with the students via phone calls and texts, but we especially enjoyed visiting students at their service internship placements throughout the last few weeks. We continue to be so grateful for the many...

Mar 21 2022

Soccer games with the family, an example of so many things I’ve experienced and learned throughout only six short weeks in Ecuador. Every Sunday except those during which we were out of town visiting Mindo or Tena, my host dad...

Mar 16 2022

There are a lot of hard things in Quito. For instance, my walk to the Fundación, where we have our classes, is up a very steep hill. My little commute is one of the best parts of my day, however,...

Mar 13 2022

This is a photo of Ben and I with our host parents Pak David and Ibu Eva at the 17 anniversary of PPC (Philadelphia Praise Center). On this day we attended church with our host parents to celebrate the 17th...

Mar 13 2022

One of the highlights of my SST experience was celebrating Chinese new year with my host family. This was my first time celebrating Chinese New Year, and I didn’t know quite what to expect. Pastor Aldo had mentioned when we...

Mar 04 2022

Friday March 4, 2022 I am writing from the Amani Gardens Inn in Nairobi. Today we made the trip from Mpala Research Centre to the big city to prepare for our flight home on Saturday. It was tough to say...

Mar 03 2022

Students left for their service placements on Saturday morning  all arriving by the evening and greeted by their new host families. 🙂 We mentioned previously that last Thursday afternoon we spent some concentrated time discussing/reflecting/anticipating the upcoming transition to service...

Mar 02 2022

Tuesday March 1, 2022  Today was our first day of collecting data for our individual research projects. Mira is working on bird responses to smoke with Alex while Willow, Amelia, Jesper, and I are working on counting ants as an...

Mar 01 2022

Monday Feb. 28, 2022 Today we had a much-needed day of rest after a week or so of intense work. While Ryan headed to Nanyuki for the day to get new tires on his Land Rover, the rest of us...

Feb 28 2022

Sunday Feb. 27, 2022 After an intense week of burning, the Goshen team was ready for a relaxing day of fun. Naturally, that meant we woke up bright and early at 6:30 to head to Ol Pejeta, a ranch that...

Feb 27 2022

During our last week of the “study” portion of the term, students traveled to several hours east of Quito to explore the upper Amazon basin. We combined several experiential learning activities – both cultural and environmental, based on the region’s...

Feb 27 2022

Saturday Feb. 26 Today we finished the last of the 36 small 30m X 30m burns in the KLEE plots! I am thankful to all the students, Mpala Research Centre staff, and research colleagues. Asanteni! Here is a video of...

Feb 26 2022

Friday Feb. 26 Today we got up early to burn and discovered that, as with most fieldwork, plans change. Our colleagues from Harvard were having trouble with some drone equipment they were using in the KLEE plots and we got...

Feb 24 2022

This blog reports on the 2022 research trip to Kenya where I am collaborating with colleagues from various universities (UC Davis, Karatina University, and Utah State University) to implement prescribed burns inside the Kenya Longterm Exclosure Experiment (KLEE).  With me...

Feb 20 2022

We had a full week of classes and wrapped up several large academic pieces to the term. Friday evening students hosted their families for a program and goodbye party.   Last night (Saturday) we arrived here to Hostal Pakay in...

Feb 13 2022

After a few days of class in Quito we took off for the north, arriving to the beautiful city of Otavalo in the province of Imbabura for several days.   Here is a short clip of some of the music...