Earlhamites are Everywhere
As many of you know, Earlham College (our alma mater) has an excellent array of opportunities for students to study off-campus. I went to the Galapagos Islands (Ecuador) and Kenya on Earlham programs led by Earlham professors. One of Earlham's first off-campus programs was in the southwestern U.S. About 15 students and two factulty members traveled around in vans for 3.5 months to learn about environmental issues. As with all Earlham programs, the specific courses offered on each program depend on the expertise of the leading faculty. Southwest field studies, as the program is known, also involved a lot of outdoor sports such as hiking, kayaking, rock climbing, etc. Recently, Earlham has had trouble enticing students to go on this program and faculty to lead the program. As a result, they have decided that the time has come to retire SWFS. Instead, Earlham will be offering a semester-long program in environmental studies in NEW ZEALAND beginning in Janauary 2008.
Jay Roberts had the idea to start a program in New Zealand. He is Director of Wilderness programs and teaches experiential education and environmental issues. He and his wife Marcie will be the first leader of the program during the [northern hemisphere] spring 2008. Bill Buskirk, professor of Biology, will hopefully lead the program in spring 2009. Bill was pivotal in the creation of both Southwest Field Studies and the East Africa program, in addition to leading countless other programs. So, Bill and Jay were the ideal team to scout New Zealand for program ideas.
This is where we come into the picture. Bill was one of my three letter writers for graduate school applications, so we've been in touch over the past few months, but I had to write to Jay to get a copy of their itinerary about a month ago. Jay planned a whirlwind 13 day tour of both islands. It just so happened that our schedule overlapped nicely with Bill and Jay's scout trip itinerary. They left Indiana on Christmas Eve and arrived in Auckland on December 26, missing Christmas Day entirely. I arrived in Auckland earlier on the 26th. I met Bill and Jay at the Auckland Friends Center where the three of us spent the night of the 26th. I had the pleasure of helping them get oriented on their very first day in New Zealand. We went to the Auckland musuem and spent a while in a bookstore looking at useful books. It was great- I got to recommend non-ficton for other people to buy! I felt so useful!
Bill and Jay managed to stay up until at least 9 pm on their first day. I went to bed shortly thereafter so I could wake up early to meet Matt at the airport on my birthday. I already described most of what we did on that day with Jay and Bill in my previous post so I'm not going to repeat it. Earlham's NZ program might pass through Rotorua but they probably won't spend a lot of time there since they're planning to spent most of program on the South Island. Still, it is a popular destination within NZ and the future program leaders wanted to get as much of an idea about the country as possible in two weeks. We parted ways with them in Rotorua so they could get to their hostel before dinner. Matt and I went our separate ways for a few days. They went to the Quaker settlement in Whanganui (more about that later) while we went straight to the Quaker Summer Gathering on December 28 near Wellington.
Summer Gathering was about 150 Quakers from all over New Zealand in one place for a week. What better networking opportunity could Earlham professors setting up a new international program ask for? Bill and Jay arrived on the afternoon of the 30th. I made some announcements about their visit so there was a great turnout of Quakers interested in hearing more about the program Earlham is planning. Jay did an excellent job articulating their goals and preliminary plans for the program. About 20 people stayed for an hour and offered a wealth of useful suggestions.
This meeting was fascinating for me because some day I'd like to be doing exactly what Bill and Jay do: plan and lead international programs for undergraduates. I loved hearing the perspectives of thoughtful, broadly educated Kiwis from all over the country (and quite a few expat-cum-kiwis).
There were two other Earlhamites at Summer Gathering which was exciting but hardly surprising. One was Seth Webb '96 and another went to ESR (Earlham School of Religion) in the 90s. I love meeting Earlhamites all over the place. It's a small but amazingly ubiquitous community.
On New Year's Eve we met up with Bill and Jay again in Wellington to go to Te Papa, New Zealand's AMAZING national museum. We spent about 3 hours there that day and hardly put a dent in it! Then we got great Indian food for lunch and spent the rest of the afternoon at Karori Wildlife Sactuary, also in Wellington. Many birds that are highly endangered have been reintroduced to Karori Sanctuary, so we had an awesome time birding with Bill.
Sadly, we said goodbye to our Earlham professors after birding at Karori because Bill and Jay got on a ferry to the South Island first thing on New Year's Day. They had an awesome itinerary lined up for the rest of their short trip to New Zealand. Bill, Jay, how was the rest of your trip? We were thrilled to be able to spend time with some dear Earlhamites. I'm sure the new program is going to be a great success.
Carrie
1 comment:
Bill is da bomb! I had him for EcoBio, and it was one of my favorite courses at EC.
Why do all New Zealand Friends cross their legs?
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