As Temple expands on Main Campus, so does its global outreach.
Three years ago, The Temple News presented readers with its first global edition to shine light on Temple’s evolving international presence. Since then, enrollment at Temple Japan’s Tokyo campus grew from 1,642 to 2,041, and there are 72 more international undergraduate and graduate students seeking Temple degrees in Philadelphia, adding to our awareness of other cultures on Main Campus.
Initiatives by the university to expand Temple’s global presence are important. Aside from the study abroad opportunities Temple offers, Student Activities’ service-immersion trips are also continually expanding students’ perspectives on lifestyles across the United States and beyond its borders. This year, participants will travel to Guatemala and Jamaica to volunteer and work with issues regarding community development, immigration, sustainability and education.
Similar global volunteer expeditions occur every year. For the last 15 years, the Temple Haiti Club – a group of Kornberg School of Dentistry students – has returned to Haiti each spring to provide dental care, and for the past two years, students have taken it upon themselves to travel together to Guatemala through a non-Temple program called Encountour to help build houses, construct stoves and nurture farms.
Even after graduation, students remain on the hunt for a global experience. Since 1961, when the Peace Corps began, 473 Temple graduates have joined the grassroots effort to improve communities around the world.
The Temple News commends students for actively taking advantage of such opportunities to experience life in other countries by studying and volunteering abroad. As Carl O’Donnell reports on Page 2 [“Study abroad program enrolls more than 1,000 for 2009-2010”], Temple’s study abroad program has nearly tripled in the last three years.
And while some may frown upon addressing issues overseas before fixing problems at home, it’s important to remember the additional perspective cross-cultural endeavors offer. Living in one country, regardless of its level of diversity, limits every person to a certain extent.
Crossing borders can often lead to the best souvenirs: new ideas and initiatives to bring home and apply to age-old problems.
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