by Janelle Kohnert
Copy Editor / Distribution Manager

This summer SCC psychology teacher Bob Thompson will lead a short-term study abroad program to Jamaica.

Psychology 285: International Service Learning is worth five credits and includes plenty of study both before and after the actual 16-day excursion, which runs June 6-June 22. Unlike most study-abroad programs, this one is self-sustaining. Thompson raises funds to support the trip each year by selling coffee he gets from the Blue Mountains in Jamaica.

Thompson estimates he has been to Jamaica 80 times and has taken students 15 times, both from SCC and a four-year liberal arts university on the east coast where he used to teach. Because he visits so much he has bonded with the farming community in the Blue Mountains and gained their trust.

While visiting Jamaica without the students, Thompson buys the world famous and very expensive Blue Mountain coffee from farmers there for about $10, brings the coffee here, and has it roasted for free. He then sells it for $20-$25 per pound, which is a good deal compared to the $80 per pound it usually sells for. Thompson uses the money to buy about $3,000- $4,000 worth of school and art supplies that SCC students pack in to two school houses in the Blue Mountains, where they spend most of their time on the trip.

At the school houses, SCC students are paired up and assigned to a particular classroom. There, they get to tutor the Jamaican students, help them create art projects, assist them in their academic work, and possibly teach the entire class.

“They learn how rewarding it is to help children and work with children,” Thompson said. “They learn the values of giving to others.

Thompson said he wants his students to learn to understand the country they’re in. Jamaica is a poor country with a lot of debt. As a result of traveling there, many students change their buying practices. “When they’re there, they can buy a t-shirt for $5, and learn who made it and why it's so cheap. I see a lot of personal growth and change,” said Thompson.

Thompson also wants his students to understand the culture and to notice how the individuality and loneliness that is so common in the U.S. contrasts so deeply with the sense of community and belonging they can feel even after spending only two weeks in Jamaica.

For the summer of 2008, the Jamaica trip will cost $1,650, which includes a roundtrip airplane ticket, three meals a day, transportation while in Jamaica, and the medical insurance that students need to travel to Jamaica. The only expense not included in the $1,650 is the students’ tuition for the five credit class.

Attendance at one informational meeting is required in order for a student to participate in the trip. The last informational meeting is on March 5 at 12:30 p.m. in room 1508. At the meeting, detailed handouts regarding the trip will be available, a slide show of previous trips will be shown, and the cost of the trip will be discussed.