Core 337, intercultural experience, is one of the less commonly discussed credits required to graduate from Covenant College. While freshmen are given a sheet of paper during orientation that explains what it entails and how to complete it, the intercultural experience often gets pushed aside until junior or senior year. The class credit requirement can be acquired through a number of different options, which tend to make it seem more daunting than is the case.
Students are told through the course description that the intercultural experience should involve them in a second culture. This means actively observing or engaging with people from that culture in a meaningful way for a minimum of 40 hours.
The intercultural experience is an independent credit, meaning students may do whatever they choose to fulfill the requirement as long as it fits inside the parameters. One of the most common ways for students to fulfill this requirement in the past has been Covenant’s IMPACT trips over Spring Break, but these are not being offered this year.
According to Lindsay Saunds, the newly hired coordinator of global education at Covenant College, “There wasn’t any overlap with Christiana Fitzpatrick [the former coordinator of global education],” and “there wasn’t an opportunity for training.” The IMPACT trips take time, planning, and effort that would be a lot for Saunds to handle on top of beginning a new position and welcoming a new baby to her family.
Administration decided that due to the amount of preparation necessary for IMPACT trips as well as the fact that only 24 students are allowed to attend at one time, it would be better this year to allow time for Saunds to adjust into her new position. IMPACT trips will be offered again starting next year.
Even without IMPACT trips, there are many wonderful ways to embrace the intercultural credit. A few common, viable options are to study abroad, teach English as a second language, work with refugees, or become a part of a nonprofit tutoring program for minorities. As long as it is not just a service project or a sightseeing trip, but something ethnically diverse and immersed in another culture, it will be allowed.
Saunds says one of the most impactful ways to get the intercultural credit is to be able to study abroad and live with a host family because of how well it allows you to experience another culture. However, for those that cannot study abroad due to financial restraints or other factors, the impact of finding downtime to “build relationships” outside the actual program is very important. Saunds suggested, “Offering to attend their church, or asking them to teach you how to cook one of their native meals” as great ways to allow the people you work with to open up and share more about their lives and where they come from.
“No one is going to share their life story with you if they feel like they don’t know you,” Saunds said. The conversations that you can have with people from another culture through this experience are meant to broaden your perspective and create an environment where working alongside other cultures is not only doable but enjoyable.
She continued, “Even Jesus had open commensality, meaning anyone and everyone is welcome at the table.” This idea of open hospitality and welcomeness is a great outlook to have when considering which path to take with the intercultural credit. If the credit is taken seriously, the hope is that the experience will help shape conversations in the work world outside of Covenant College, and give students a better understanding of new ideas that may not have been previously considered.