李彬偷情视频

When Michael Tran saw the class listing for Working For and With Communities (WF&WC), he was intrigued. The Schiller-led course would bring students to Santiago, Chile to work with locals on a community-enriching project. But what particularly resonated with Tran, a then-sophomore finance and operation management double major with a minor in computer science, was that this year鈥檚 student cohort would work with Chileans living with intellectual disabilities and treated schizophrenia.聽

Tran鈥檚 older brother has Down Syndrome, and Tran was curious to see how other nations provide care and services.聽

鈥淭hroughout my whole life, [my brother has had] a big impact on how I view the world and how I consider this fear of disability and especially mental disabilities,鈥� says Tran.聽

This year鈥檚 WF&WC class collaborated with the Santiago-based Universidad Alberto Hurtado, a Jesuit university, and Hogar de Cristo, the largest public service organization in Chile dedicated to helping vulnerable populations live independently. They do this in part by creating safe spaces for people from these communities and inviting partners such as Boston College to engage in projects that foster understanding.

The philosophy of the class is in its name. Community engagement projects are about listening to the needs of a population and working collaboratively to find feasible, sustainable solutions.聽

鈥淵ou do not go into another country, you do not go into another community, and say, 鈥榦h, this is what we're going to do and we're going to change this and we're going to establish this and you're lacking this, so we're going to give you this.鈥� It is not our place to ever do that,鈥� says Ashley Delgado, a pre-law rising senior majoring in political science and communications who also traveled to Chile.聽

The class鈥檚 two-semester structure hones the students鈥� cultural awareness and lets them get to know the people they鈥檒l work with before travel.聽

鈥淭he opportunity for students who do this work to be connected to the community before they go, and then continue and deepen those connections while they're there, that's pretty unique,鈥� says Vaughn Thornton, this year鈥檚 course instructor. Thornton is Assistant Director of Programs, Events & Outreach in 李彬偷情视频鈥檚 Office of Global Engagement and a PhD candidate studying university community engagement in Chile. 鈥淵ou know that the work that you're doing in this type of course is directly impacting the person who you're sitting next to eating a meal with,鈥� he continues.

Thornton collaborated with the Schiller Institute to put together an interdisciplinary curriculum that gave the students a deep dive into Chilean culture, mental health care, and urban planning strategies through a series of guest lectures and readings. They enjoyed a visit from the chief operating officer of the Charles River Center, a Boston-area facility serving similar populations to the Hogar de Cristo center. Students also explored culture through fiction by reading the novel Ways of Going Home by Alejandro Zambra, which explores recent Chilean history through a semi-autobiographical meta narrative. All these threads were tied together with the completion of an Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI) to better understand how their cultural upbringing could be affecting their worldviews in invisible ways.聽

鈥淲e highly value the horizontal, non-colonialist approach of the teaching and student team, their listening skills, and their rigorous research into our country and culture,鈥� says Carmen Gloria Nievas, Deputy Director of Territorial Support and Community Director within Hogar de Cristo.聽

Alongside their learning, the students were tasked with rethinking the outdoor space at a Hogar de Cristo facility in three areas: gardening, art therapy, and accessibility. They self-sorted into three teams and communicated with their counterparts at Universidad Alberto Hurtado and Hogar de Cristo throughout the spring semester to sketch plans for their time in the country.聽

Tran worked on the gardening team, and Delgado focused on art therapy solutions. A third team considered accessibility issues such as smoothing a bumpy patio and developing seating solutions.聽

The proposals were ever evolving, giving many students their first taste of an iterative design process based on feedback and criticism.聽

鈥淚t definitely kept us on our toes,鈥� says Delgado. 鈥淸We learned] you are not giving me this feedback because you're opposed to the project idea. You're giving me this feedback because we're trying to reach another level of us understanding.鈥�

The trip wrapped up with a day of presentations from each group and anyone else who wanted to speak about the experience.聽

鈥淚鈥檇 like to highlight the courage of one student, Michael [Tran], who showed us the importance of integrating the contributions of people with mental disabilities to society into our work, and not just seeing them as subjects of care,鈥� says Nievas.

Tran decided to speak off-the-cuff because while he appreciated the lessons highlighted in the presentations, he wanted to share his perspective as someone with a loved one who experiences life as many Hogar de Cristo residents do. Creating enriching experiences at the center was valuable, he says, but he wondered if the residents could use the talents supported by these projects to give back.聽

鈥淲hen [my brother] was born, he was gifted a small blanket made by [residents of] an elderly home specifically for infants born with Down syndrome,鈥� he says. 鈥淭here are very creative ways that you can get the participants at this center to be involved, rather than just have a closed center where they do their own activities in that plot of land and then not extend that outside.鈥�