Ten Carolina students ventured far beyond their homes for the first time last summer. Leaving behind the comforts of the familiar to board a plane to Ghana, Africa, their mission was to embrace Ghanaian culture through art and storytelling.
“The people of Ghana taught me how to adapt to different cultures, and we worked to understand each other deeper than a surface level,” says Sean Gary, a senior psychology major and Capstone Scholar.
“This trip was one of the most important things I've ever been able to experience.”
What’s more, this first experience overseas came at no cost thanks to a grant from the McCausland Innovation Fund. The funding supported the creation of a new type of study abroad experience.
Designed by professor of art education Minuette Floyd, the Beyond a Single Story Maymester course gives first-generation students and others the opportunity to expand their world views and build connections that cross cultural barriers.
During their 10-day journey, the students spent time at the Nima One Basic School in Accra, Ghana, reading and making art with the school children using books and supplies they collected before leaving the states.
“They use art to have conversations, to dispel myths and to see first-hand what’s true,” Floyd says. “Now they can really think through what they are believing.”
The experience also helped the students practice cultural integration. Interacting with people in another culture helped them understand etiquette differences, navigate language nuances, respect religious practices and foster effective communication.
“Leaving the country was an entirely new experience for me,” says Sandy Abdelnabi, a criminology and criminal justice major.
“Before taking this course, I believed the images and ideas that I read from the media, however my impressions were entirely wrong. I will be carrying all the lessons I learned in Ghana with me through my academic, professional and personal future.”
Closer to home, the course enables the students to engage with their Carolina and local communities. The students collaborate with USC faculty members to hone their storytelling skills by working with the afterschool program at Rosewood Elementary School in Richland School District One.
Floyd says that engaging locally as well as abroad is important in shaping how students see and think about the world beyond what they read or see in the media, while embracing differences.
“They use art to have conversations, to dispel myths and to see first-hand what’s true,” Floyd says. “Now they can really think through what they are believing.”