Over a Century of Leadership
in Education and Advocacy
President's Message
July 2008
Dear Friends:I just returned from an exhilarating Service Learning trip to Benin and Ghana, West Africa where I had the pleasure of traveling with Wheelock faculty, staff, and 16 students.
Wheelock is responding to our students’ desire to learn firsthand about other cultures and people while also providing trips for international students to come to Boston as part of their studies. We continue this pledge with the belief that today’s students are tomorrow’s leaders and tomorrow, every leader will need a global perspective.
In addition to Serving Learning trips to West Africa and another to Belfast, Ireland in April, the Wheelock campus has been alive with international activity that will continue throughout the summer. We will host three Summer Immersion and Study Tour programs and welcome nearly 100 international learners and faculty members from Singapore, The Bahamas, and Taiwan during June, July, and the beginning of August. Additionally, Wheelock will serve as the venue for the 2008 International Froebel Society conference on July 9. The conference theme is play and learning which is at the heart of Froebel’s educational philosophy and is highly topical in today’s world.
The first group of 59 learners from Singapore arrived on June 7 for five weeks and has enriched the campus with their enthusiasm and motivation to learn about all that Boston has to offer. These students are enrolled in the Wheelock College Bachelor of Science in Early Childhood Educational Studies and Leadership program at Ngee Ann Polytechnic. The 20 Bahamian learners are part of the Wheelock College Master of Science Programme in Early Childhood and Elementary Teaching in collaboration with The College of the Bahamas. The students will be on campus for four weeks and take two classes. They will also have several class sessions to support the development of their research projects for Independent Study in Education. And, on July 12, 17 Taiwanese learners will arrive on campus for a three-week study tour. These learners are enrolled in the Departments of Early Childhood Education at Wheelock College’s partner institution, National Taitung University and National Hsinchu University of Education in Taiwan.
In addition to their coursework, the students will take part in a number of educational and cultural activities organized by Wheelock’s Center for International Education, Leadership, and Innovation. They will visit state-of-the-art child care facilities and listen to lectures by Wheelock faculty members on such topics as “Children’s Racial and Cultural Identities” and “Helping Children Cope with Grief and Loss.” The itinerary also includes some of Boston’s many rich resources and institutions—museums, festivals, historical tours, Fenway Park, and an excursion to the Boston Harbor Islands.
These Summer Immersion and Study Tour programs are a welcome expansion of Wheelock’s strategic goal, “Bringing the World to Wheelock and Wheelock to the World.” In 2006, Wheelock College welcomed 43 international visitors on two Study Tours. Longtime academic degree program partner RTRC Asia brought a group of 18 learners from Singapore, and 25 learners also came to campus from our partner universities in Taiwan. This summer’s 96 learners in three Summer Immersion and Study Tour programs represent a significant increase in our international endeavors. Their presence on campus is the culmination of incredible efforts by offices across campus to accommodate and embrace these groups.
These programs present a wonderful opportunity, both for the international learners and for Wheelock College, to interact with and learn from each other. They offer a chance to strengthen Wheelock’s international partnerships and reputation as the premier college to improve the lives of children and their families both here and abroad.
Sincerely,
Jackie Jenkins-Scott
