Richland Collegiate High School students to learn global lessons on trip to Senegal

by Jenni Gilmer, Richland College

This holiday season, six students from Richland Collegiate High School of Mathematics, Science and Engineering (RCHS) will give and receive gifts of peace, unity and mutual understanding.

Four young women and two young men from RCHS will travel to Saint-Louis, Senegal, in West Africa from Dec. 11-22, to meet Senegalese peers at Ameth Fall Girls High School and participate in a seminar on youth and women’s issues in contemporary Senegal.

Stephen K. Mittelstet, president of Richland College and RCHS superintendent, is leading the journey. He said the trip gives the study-abroad group an opportunity to put the college’s values into action.

"Committed to Richland College's vision to be the best place we can be to learn, teach, and build sustainable local and world community, important goals of our trip to Senegal are to broaden collective intercultural competence and awareness between our RCHS students and Senegalese students, and to inspire meaningful educational and cultural exchanges resulting in increased global interconnectedness,” he said.

RCHS, a charter school at Richland College, is designed to provide a rigorous academic experience for high school juniors and seniors. RCHS students are enrolled in college-level courses with traditional college students and in taking these classes potentially can earn simultaneously a high school diploma and two-year associate’s degree.

Part of RCHS’ curriculum is “service learning” – thoughtfully chosen experiences that meet real community needs relating to course learning outcomes. RCHS students are required to complete and document at least 30 hours of service learning each year.

The Senegal trip pairs studying abroad with service learning – a winning combination, said Sherry Dean, dean of Richland’s School of Humanities, Fine and Performing Arts. Dr. Dean and Kristyn Edney, RCHS principal, will join the students and Dr. Mittelstet on the trip.

“These initiatives are creating important linkages of intercultural understanding and global competency for community college students,” Dr. Dean said. “We are dispelling long-held stereotypes, building mutual understanding and living a positive vision of the responsibilities of membership in an interdependent, global community.”

Dr. Mittelstet also said that the trip provides the opportunity to recruit Senegalese young women to pursue higher education studies “in the richly diverse cultural community we embrace and that embraces us at Richland College.”

Research shows that the literacy rate for Senegalese girls is below 40 percent, and without scholarships, young women are unlikely to complete middle school or high school, much less a college education.

A recent report released by the International Labour Organization, a specialized agency of the United Nations, states that one of the main factors pushing African women to accept indecent jobs is the lack of alternatives to higher education and vocational training.

Over the past decade, Dallas County Community College District (DCCCD) students have partnered with individuals and businesses to underwrite scholarships for girls’ education at Ameth Fall High School and in the village of Darou Alpha, Senegal.

Senegalese students aren’t the only ones who benefit from the relationship with Ameth Fall, said Dr. Dean, who has been directing DCCCD study-abroad groups to Senegal since 1998.

RCHS students also gain invaluable experience and a new global perspective.

“All the students participating in this year’s trip are ethnic minorities, and many of them had never considered study abroad a viable option before coming to the DCCCD,” Dr. Dean said. “As a result of studying abroad, many past participants returned home to pursue redefined educational goals and to obtain advanced degrees in international business, communication studies and teaching.”

In January, Richland College will continue its commitment to local and world community building by sending two English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) instructors to Senegal.

Alice Lee and Phyllis Williams will conduct a two-week professional development seminar for members of the Senegalese Association of the Teachers of English Training. The seminar is designed to strengthen the Senegalese teachers’ English language competency and foreign language pedagogical practices, two areas that education leaders consider vital to Senegal’s future economic development.

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