Students have access to more than 40 travel opportunities in the U.S. and across five continents, including hands-on programs, internships and faculty-led trips. Each program is designed to support Exeter’s broad academic curriculum and offer experiential immersion. An extension of the Harkness classroom, Global Initiatives programming takes students places where they can “use their skills of careful learning and cultural competencies and develop them on the road,” Page says. “It’s ideal for them to have that Harkness training before they leave. They’re approaching what they’re seeing with open minds. They have an ability to process those experiences and take them in.”
Non-sibi also factors into program development. On the service-oriented New Orleans trip, for example, students learn about Hurricane Katrina’s lasting effect on the city by rebuilding homes, gardens and neighborhood parks. “We tap into local organizations helping out with urban renewal, food insecurity and health care access so students can see how long it takes to recover from something like a Katrina,” Page says.
Department quick takes
Equity and inclusion initiatives
Despite pandemic travel restrictions, students continued to see the world thanks to new, virtual programming launched last year. In courses that spanned everything from Afro-Caribbean dance to food systems in marginalized countries, students explored topics that connected directly with Exeter’s antiracist work. After participating in Redlined Realities: Race and Housing in America, Angela Zhang ’23 noted, “It was a great opportunity to engage with peers on a topic not many of us knew about. It was challenging to grapple with concepts, not in the sense of comprehension, but coming to terms with reality.”
Student-teacher collaborations
Sharing his own passion for writing and the environment, English instructor Jason BreMiller led 12 students on a trip to Iceland. There, the group studied glaciers from a scientific, historical and literary perspective. The trip was life-changing for many of the students, who were affected deeply by witnessing climate change up close. Piya Bryant ’21 was so moved, she wrote about her experiences; her essays about her encounters won awards from a Brown University writing program.
Students pursue their passions
Janeva Dimen ’19 enjoyed studying the classics so much that she pursued travel opportunities in cities known for their ancient geography. As a lower, she studied in Bibracte, France; senior year, she traveled to Rome, Italy. From sampling fried artichokes to marveling at a Scuderie del Quirinale exhibit inspired by Ovid’s poems, Dimen gained new context and appreciation for her classical texts.
On-the-ground experiences
During a summer-term trip to the Bay Area, students were offered rare, inside access to the Silicon Valley tech world. The group participated in design-thinking workshops, visited a homeless center and toured the headquarters of Dropbox, Facebook and Google, meeting with execs, Exeter alumni and parents. JaQ Lai ’21 built on this experience and investigated his own complex relationship with technology through an Art 500 project, “Appleskin."
