By Mercedes Jaudon / Staff Writer
By Mercedes Jaudon / Staff Writer
The Study Abroad students are going to be on the road again, this time to Beijing China!
Now the students only have a few months left before they will be flown to Beijing in March to spend ten weeks in the home of the cultural, educational and political center of China.
The Study Abroad program is coordinated by Jan Schall and her assistant Bill Despres.
“I think that the students who are going to study abroad in Beijing, China will get a chance to look at culture values, attitudes, religion and political differences from America.” said Jan Schall. So how exactly does it work?
First the board members from the program pick two faculty members to accompany the students on their trip.
The two faculty members will be Fabian Biancardi and Nick Sinigagila.
Following that, the students will take two weeks of courses with the professors on campus.
After this there is an orientation that the parents are encouraged to come to.
“We want the parents of these students to understand the program and feel secure about sending their children off to study abroad.” Schall said.
The students are then sent off to the airport to catch their flight. Once they arrive and settle into their dormitories they will have another orientation and begin the tour of Beijing.
Their actual classes will be held in a well-known language school in Beijing, the school is only a fifteen minute walk from the dormitory.
They will attend class Monday through Thursday and will have three day weekends. This gives the students time to travel and experience life in china.
“I feel that this is a very nice place for the students,” Schall said.
They only live fifteen minutes from one of the most historic areas of Beijing.”
There are many historic sites the students will be able to see, such as the Temple of Heaven, Imperial Palace, Tiananmen Square, The Great Wall of China, Summer Palace, the Ming Tombs and of course those famous Pandas.
All courses offered are general education and are transferable, there will be Philosophy, Political Science and Chinese language courses offered for the semester in Beijing.
Any financial aid for which students qualify for may be used for the Study Abroad programs.
RCC is the first college in the country to offer a full semester program in China.
The Riverside Community College District has been offering study abroad for 19 years and is one of the two percent of community colleges that does.
“We are very fortunate of our district chandler, college president and board of trusties,” Schall said. They support fall and spring semester academic study abroad program and yearly summer study tours.”
The program welcomes all ages and students from other colleges and universities.
They are sending twenty students to Beijing, but there are about seven more spots open for this trip.
The application and brochure for this program is available in the Study Abroad office in Quadrangle 100.
“China needs a young educated population of Americans to work in China and help them understand American culture values, attitudes and behaviors,” Schall said. “Many international language schools desire American students to teach English as a second language.”
Students from former programs are working all over the world.
“I feel that this program is one of the most significant changes in some of these students’ lives.” said Schall.
