Sunday, June 10, 2012

There and Back Again: A US Ag Ed Experience to Korea

In what seemed like a blink of an eye, we flew half way around the world, experienced Korean ag education, and made it back home safely!  As we all try to recover from jet lag, I can't help but to sit back and think about this amazing experience we just had in South Korea!  We met some amazing students from Seoul National University, we had the opportunity to teach in a Korean high school, and immerse ourselves in a culture very different from ours.  While we all know how great this trip was, I still get the question, "Why did you travel all the way to Korea?"  Luckily, the answer to this question is simple; global citizenship.  Going into this experience, we all knew it would be a fun trip but we never knew we all would come home as global citizens.  The term global citizen has different meanings depending on who you talk to but for me this term describes a person who embraces our worlds diversity and works to interact with everyone in an attempt to learn from and teach others.

After mingling with my peers and working collaboratively for the duration of the trip, I am confident that we all have developed a new mindset that we all need to work together, regardless of culture, country, or location.  We all have problems in our countries and in our world but likewise have aspects of our cultures that help us stand out.  Working with the SNU students helped us realize that working with other cultures is enjoyed and beneficial.  As global citizens, we now have this new idea of how important it is to incorporate all of these international aspects and experiences into our teaching so we can begin molding this notion into future agriculturalist.  Even though the trip is over, we all will be presenting our experiences and attempting to plant the seed of global citizenship in the minds of all.

I hope you enjoyed our blog and may YOU always be mindful of being a global citizen!

Doug

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