Buckingham Browne and Nichols students find lessons and friendship in homestays and service-learning.

20 students from the Buckingham Browne & Nichols School (BB&N) spent 11 days last June living, working and playing with members of a community in the Dominican Republic. The students and their families raised the funds for all the construction materials to build a home in the town of Batey Libertad. The students stayed in the homes of families in the town while helping to build the house. Much of their days were spent taking part in the daily life of the community, learning and sharing.

Said Katherine F., a sophomore on the program, "This trip was eye-opening in many ways.  I realized how grateful I should be for all the comforts we have in the US, yet I also learned to recognize the insignificance of these material possessions.  Although the people of Batey Libertad lived in harsh conditions, they had a strong sense of community and family not seen back at home... As I got to meet more people in the Batey, I realized that we were more similar than different despite the economic disparities between us."

Margot Caso, a Spanish teacher, was the driving organizational force within BB&N for this program. She contacted LiveLearning and asked for a curriculum that addressed her specific goals of intensive community interaction with opportunities to practice language skills, as well as engagement in a service project which was important to our community partner and provided opportunities for growth and learning in her students. "The program met all of my expectations, and then some," said Ms. Caso. BB&N is working with LiveLearning on plans for another service-learning program to Latin America in 2009.

Said Michael H., a sophomore who was previously inspired by the work of Paul Farmer and his medical work in Haiti and around the world, "This trip has made me seriously reconsider what I want to do in the future. Maybe I can be a doctor and help those in need…it's something I never would have considered if not for this experience. I did not think I was the kind of person who would be able to withstand that lifestyle.  [But] I encountered that very lifestyle in Batey Libertad and I love it.  I was sad to leave and I even feel as though I could stay much longer."

Click here to request a video of their experience.

Winsor School Faculty introduced to International Service-Learning on a LiveLearning customized curriculum in Rio Limpio.

A task force of faculty from The Winsor School spent nine days in June on a course in the Dominican Republic. The group of eight faculty worked through the spring on customizing a curriculum that addressed their goals, in addition to meeting as a group to complete preparatory assignments. The "train-the-trainers" program in the northwest mountain village of Rio Limpio addressed topics including: an introduction to intensive, international service-learning, development of community partnerships, approaches for working with students and communities on cross-cultural service-learning projects, and how these contribute to fostering global citizenship among participants.

One Winsor faculty member said that the program "helped shift [our thinking] from the academic/theoretical to real life application." She continued: "It's extremely valuable for teachers and administrators to go through this training so we can plan service-learning that is much more meaningful. Cut down on the amount of trial and error learning that an institution may do with students by sending the adults first! In other words -- speed up the learning curve for the school!"

LiveLearning honored with $19,000 gift

The LiveLearning program is pleased to announce an unrestricted donation of $19,000 from an anonymous donor. The gift, initiated in early 2007 and fully realized in December, has allowed LiveLearning to invest the considerable resources required for researching, visiting and developing potential community partners throughout Latin America. Additionally, the gift has contributed towards support of our in-country community partners, and was critical in subsidizing a recent educational expedition with the Gailer School to Peru. A small percentage has been used to cover overhead and administrative expenses, which LiveLearning has been able to keep to just several hundred dollars per month. "This gift has been of extraordinary value to LiveLearning," said Alex Graham, Executive Director. "it's allowed us to achieve both our educational and community-buidling goals at a high level, far sooner than exepected."

UNIVERSITY OF VERMONT STUDENTS TAKE CREAR BY STORM

On January 2nd, a group of 13 University of Vermont students, led by John Hayden of the Plant and Soil Science Department, arrived in the Dominican Republic for a Service-Learning program. Their primary goal: to help initiate a community garden project in Batey Libertad. (A "batey" is a Haitian community, typically quite poor, within the Dominican Republic). To do so, they first visited CREAR with the LiveLearning Program to gain an introduction to local techniques of organic agriculture, to engage in cultural exchange with a Dominican community, and to learn about the complex and difficult relations between Haiti and the Dominican Republic that face this remote border region, and the country as a whole. Thanks to rain-soaked roads, the group’s arrival in the town of Rio Limpio was a triumphant, muddy adventure.

The UVM group brought as their guests two Haitians from Batey Libertad, Franklin and Yanliko, who took part in the training and cultural exchanges and were welcomed into the community of Rio Limpio. UVM also brought seeds for CREAR, donated by High Mowing Seeds, (as did LiveLearning -- donated by Gardener’s Supply) and equipment for Rio Limpio’s baseball and softball teams, generously collected and donated by the students of Edmund’s School.

The expedition was a great success, in large part because the UVM students proved less-than shy when it came to dancing. The expedition moved on to visit and live in Batey Libertad while helping to begin the work for the community garden. Two of the group remain there through March to help guide the process and teach more about agricultural techniques and garden management.

May, 2007: LiveLearning Honored by Outstanding Service-Learning Student

May 31, 2007. Valerie Esposito, a third year Ph.D student at the University of Vermont’s Gund Institute for Ecological Economics, selected LiveLearning to receive a $500 honorarium made in her name. The award is given annually by the UVM office of Community-University Partnerships and Service-Learning (CUPS) to highlight the work that is being done to infuse curricula at UVM with a value of civic participation.

Esposito was selected as this year’s Outstanding Service- Learning Student Award recipient in recognition for her performance in multiple roles as a service-learning student, Teaching Assistant and Ph.D researcher. Awardees are given the chance to designate a financial honorarium of $500 to the non-profit of his/her choice in recognition of the award. Esposito said, “I chose LiveLearning because I've heard great things about this nascent organization and couldn’t think of a more appropriate place to donate this honorarium. I wanted to support the values of service-learning which LiveLearning promotes.”

Esposito, 32, originally from New Jersey, is a Graduate Research Assistant at the Gund Institute where she studies ecological economics and ecosystem management. She has been a Teaching Assistant for three different service-learning classes with which she has traveled to Peru, Costa Rica, and the Dominican Republic. The majority of the service-learning programs which LiveLearning runs work with social entrepreneurs in Peru and the Dominican Republic.