Photos courtesy of 厄瓜多尔 & 加拉帕戈斯群岛 出国留学 participants

An intrepid group of students completed their 厄瓜多尔 和 加拉帕戈斯群岛 Isl和s study abroad in December, marking the successful resumption of Principia 大学 出国留学 programs. Principia’s 出国留学 program halted in spring 2020 after the Nepal 和 India trip was recalled due to p和emic restrictions. 今年秋天, 然而, students 和 faculty have managed a safe 和 successful return to overseas study-abroad travel.

“Our office continues to daily monitor local conditions for our current 和 upcoming programs,” says 出国留学 Program Manager Allison Terry. “And we are grateful for the capacity to be flexible 和 adaptable to constantly changing circumstances. We are thrilled for the students who have been able to participate in the 厄瓜多尔 和 St. Lucia study abroad programs. They are gaining invaluable educational experiences 和 skills that will prepare them to be compassionate 和 generous global citizens.”

Spring 2022 study-abroad programs are moving forward as planned—including the St. Lucia 出国留学 with Asst. Professor of Education Studies 和 出国留学 Director Stephanie Lovseth that’s currently underway. Upcoming study-abroad programs planned for this summer include the New Zeal和 program 和 the Slovenia, 克罗地亚, 和 Bosnia study abroad. The United Kingdom program is scheduled for fall 2022.

厄瓜多尔 & 加拉帕戈斯群岛

Charles Darwin once wrote: “... it appears that nothing can be more improving to a young naturalist, than a journey in distant countries,和厄瓜多尔号 & 加拉帕戈斯群岛 Isl和s study abroad delivered on that promise.

One student dispatch sent from San Christobel, 加拉帕戈斯群岛 is typical of the kind of h和s-on learning that the students experienced: “We’ve been studying green sea turtles for the past few days, trying to figure out their eating habits 和 patterns. We hope to learn how much they eat 和 how much energy is in their food.”

The study-abroad program combined natural history courses taught by Dr. Scott Eckert (C’79) with 哲学 classes taught by Assistant Professor of 哲学 Chris Young 和 西班牙语-language courses taught by visiting faculty member Dr. Cecily Lee (US’69, C’73). The group of 18 students 和 their trip leaders arrived in Quito, 厄瓜多尔, on September 28 after four weeks of on-campus preparation in biology, scientific methods 和 scientific research, 哲学, 和 西班牙语 language. Students also learned how to be low-impact travelers.

For junior Garrett Sheets, the 厄瓜多尔/加拉帕戈斯群岛 trip brought out the importance of having an international perspective beyond what he’s learned in class. “[P]rinciples that I previously learned at the 大学 … were both similar 和 also different from what we experienced in-country,Sheets说. “Principles like economics 和 family structure 和 cultural studies that we see 和 study from the United States seemed entirely different when we got there.” Sheets gained important takeaways for his business administration 和 mass communications majors. “I learned how important it is to communicate internationally 和 to not see cultural or language differences as something to stop communication or deter teamwork 和 problem solving between different companies.”

For more information, photos, 和 videos from the trip, please visit the 厄瓜多尔 & The 加拉帕戈斯群岛 出国留学 website 和 prinecuadorabroad Instagram account.