Nicaragua provides students chance to assess past WU projects
Wednesday, September 15, 2010 at 10:00PM By Anna Douglas
douglasa@thejohnsonian.com
Last year, Winthrop was able to send one student to Rocha, but now the university has enough funding to send two for an entire semester. The chosen students will spend four days a week in Matagalpa and another three days researching in Rocha. Photo courtesy of Jeannie Weil
Two students will have the opportunity to travel to Nicaragua next semester to survey the impact of previous Winthrop service projects on the local community.
The trip, which Winthrop’s Research Council funded, will yield the chosen juniors or seniors 12 academic credits in sociology, history and Spanish.
One of the trip’s organizers, assistant sociology professor Jeannie Weil, said the aim of the semester-long research is to create a “more constant presence” in the small rural town of Rocha.
Past projects have been weeklong endeavors, including a group of Winthrop students who built a school in one week a few years ago.
Associate history professor Ginger Williams traveled to the country and found that in one community, children could not attend school at a particular time because they had no bridge to use when the river rose.
Williams raised enough money to fund the projects and a school was built for children to attend year-round.
The spring 2011 trip will assess how well these projects, are working for local residents, Weil said.
Students will live in an apartment in the city of Matagalpa for about four days of the week. The other three days will be spent doing field research in Rocha.
Rocha is an agricultural-based town without most amenities. Weil visited the area a few years ago and said she remembers sleeping in a hammock on the porch.
“It’s kind of like going camping,” she said.
The area is safe and the people are friendly, Weil said.
An experience such as this trip is ideal for students interested in attending graduate school or participating in programs similar to the Peace Corp, she said.
Residents of Rocha do not speak English, so applicants for the research trip should be comfortable with conversational Spanish.
The faculty organizers will hold interviews to judge the applicants’ maturity, adaptability, ability to work independently and cultural sensitivity.
Applications are due no later than Sept. 30.
Other application requirements include a 2.8 or higher GPA and junior or senior status.
Previous international experience and participation in a research methods course will enhance an application but are not necessary. Undergraduates and graduate students from any major or discipline are encouraged to apply.
For more information and an application, e-mail Ginger Williams at williamsv@winthrop.edu or Jeannie Weil at weiljh@winthrop.edu.
