Class Number:
Dom Rep ENR 5797.07
Class Description:
The course is a formalized in a very interesting way. There are two parts. The first one is the pre-departure class where students can read the book Producing Knowledge, Protecting Forests by Light Carruyo. The book is a good medium to get the general idea of what sustainable development is like is the Dominican Republic and the broad knowledge of the culture and how people are handling different situations handed to them may it be desirable or not. Along with the book and the weekly discussions, students can develop a complex and critical understanding of all different projects, policies, and more in the country. Aside from expanding the international experiences and perspectives, the students are also able to analyze and think critically about how this developing country tackle their dilemma and in a way that will foster strategies to improve the sustainable approaches in many facets such as the food and water, environmental protection, natural resource management and more. The second part is the in-country. I would say this was the most interesting part because you get to apply your knowledge from the pre-departure and make sense of everything that you discussed in class. The students can see the different scenarios talked about in class and assessed everything to make their critical judgment and think how the country may better improve the unfortunate situations such as the water quality problems mostly due to the lack of infrastructure.
Class Reflection:
Personally, I did not expect this class to be really interesting, but I was proven wrong. Of course, I enrolled in the class because I was interested in the water quality problems, but the class itself just was beyond my expectations. Aside from the pre-departure class that I mentioned where students get to read a book and get to know the country’s general culture and some sustainability development programs that they have received, I think the pre-departure class also allows you to interact and collaborate with your classmates and the professor. Including with the pre-departure is picking a topic of interest for the final paper before the departure. I chose the topic ‘Water and Sanitation’ because I have environmental science minor focusing on water science and it made sense for me to expand that understanding. We all get to explore all different kinds of scenarios and learned about diverse topics from another group as well. Some of the topics that we focused on the pre-departure class were the agriculture, women and inequalities, clean water and sanitation, and energy. These broad topics allowed us to explore more in-depth on how locals are operating by visiting them ourselves. We learned so much, and we received so much insight while we were in the country. I am thankful that I took this class because not only I learned so much about the diverse topic, I also learned some of the Dominican Republic’s environmental policies, which is critical information for me since I majored in Environmental Policy. With the combination of the global option class and any of my other class, I was able to incorporate my perspectives in different settings. I am thankful that I took the global option class because the course allowed me to look back and reflect on what I have learned and experienced during my study abroad trip. Aside from the study abroad reflection, the global option’s final paper allows me to apply some of my knowledge from the Dominican Republic study abroad experiences along with my other study abroad trip in Australia to create a piece in regards to the water quality in the ocean environment. What I learned in this class will surely allow me to reflect on my experiences from here on and will continue to grow while thinking critically, and professionally. The class allowed me to expand my international experiences and the expansion helped me improve and grow. I am confident that these diverse experiences will help me in my future endeavor and hopefully make a positive impact in not just my career in policy decision-making, but everyday life decisions as well.