Tag Archives: Community Engagement

School Bells Ring

Julia Bourque | Monday, January 21st, 2013
Students listen to the internship details at Alessi High School.

Students listen to the internship details at Alessi High School.

On Thursday and Friday of last week, the students in the INIT 350: Academic Internship and Seminar- Education course visited the two high schools where their internship will take place.  They first met with teachers at the Montessori high school in Perugia to learn about the school’s teaching methods and what their role would be in the classroom. Students who choose this internship track will independently develop their own lesson plans and interactive workshops centered around Italian and American music, travel, and culture.

 

 

The next day, Friday, January 18th, students walked down to the Alessi Scientific High School to meet with Lucia Amico, the teacher responsible for coordinating the intern program at their school.  After explaining how students would assist the English teachers in speaking and listening exercises, Lucia gave the students a tour of the school. Students in this internship placement will collaborate closely with two different teachers, offering them insight into different teaching techniques and engaging them with a wider student audience.

 

Umbra students with Lucia Amico, the Alessi High School intern coordinator.

Umbra students with Lucia Amico, the Alessi High School intern coordinator.

 

 

These school visits allowed Umbra students in the Education Internship first-hand understanding of their prospective internship placements.  Based on the two visits, students chose which school’s pedagogy and internship requirements interested them most, and placements will be made shortly!  

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New UmbraViews Video: Study Abroad in Italy with the Umbra Institute

Ian Lyons | Thursday, July 12th, 2012

 

Another new UmbraViews video! This one’s an overview of the Perugia experience and includes some great imagery, including a time-lapse video of Piazza Danti and a sunset from Porta Sole. The footage was taken over two semesters (Fall 2011 and Spring 2012) and this past summer session, so you’ll likely recognize yourself if you’ve been here recently!

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Students Participate in International Basketball Tournament

Caitlin Addlesperger | Wednesday, July 11th, 2012

“Pallone è vita!” yelled Umbra Institute student Christian Sbarro as he dribbled a basketball past Italians down the courts in Piazza Grimana on sunny Saturday, ready to score.

 

Ball is life.

 

July 5-7, Sbarro and his classmates Billy Grayson and Chris DiLisio participated in an international basketball tournament, Playground Therapy. Over the hot weekend, the three Intensive Italian students took a break from reciting lines by Dante and studying for this week’s final oral presentations to play ball in the shady courts across the street from the University for Foreigners.

 

Organized by Perugia residents Gabriele Burlarelli and Alessandro Contu, the tournament comprised 10-12 teams with players from around the world. The only requirement to enter was a willingness to play. Although dubbed “Team U.S.A.” – by an Italian teammate – the Umbra students’ team also included a Canadian, a pair of Australians, and several Italians.

 

“It was truly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” said Grayson. “I played with people I’d seen around Perugia since I’ve been here, and we actually got to hang out. It really gave me perspective, seeing so many different cultures getting to know each other through just playing a sport together, even if we could barely say, ‘Hi,’ in the beginning.”

 

The Umbra students’ interaction with members of their community in an activity outside of the Institute fulfills the goal of the Community Engagement program, according to Umbra the program co-coordinator, Julie Falk.

 

“Community engagement is all about immersing students in the Italian context both in and out of the classroom,” Falk said. “They learn not only about the Italian culture but also become more aware of their own. Perugia offers the perfect place for this type of integration into the community. It’s filled with opportunities to collaborate with other organizations, non-profits, schools, and businesses, which helps move students beyond a tourist-style study abroad experience.”

 

The students agreed that the experience accomplished exactly that.

 

“It was cool to interact with a lot of Italians outside of the classroom and learn Italian in a new setting,” Sbarro said.

DiLisio added, “We made friends that we hung out with through the weekend, people from China, people from France, Brazil, Italy – it was great.”

 

As the tournament progressed, a DJ and live bands took turns adding a soundtrack to the basketball games, which the students agreed were more fast-paced than in the U.S.

 

“The style of play was pretty different,” observed Sbarro, who is on the team of his home institution, Connecticut College. “The courts are different, and they call more fouls – much more fouls.”

 

At the end of the tournament, Team U.S.A. had won two games and lost two – all around, not a bad tally, according to DiLisio.

 

“The team just jived,” he said. “We had great potential … though in the end we fell short. It was an unforgettable weekend anyway.”

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New Community Engagement and Internships Video!

Ian Lyons | Tuesday, July 3rd, 2012

Another new UmbraViews video, this one for the Community Engagement program! Thanks to everyone that helped out in the production of the video, especially all of the students who gave their time and energy to do so:

 

 

Also, we’re trying to talk Julie Falk into changing careers and becoming a professional newscaster; what do you guys think?

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Clemson Marketing Visits AC Perugia Calcio!

Ian Lyons | Tuesday, June 26th, 2012

This morning, Professors Tom Baker and Tracy Meyer accompanied a group of Clemson marketing student to the headquarters of AC Perugia Calcio, Perugia’s professional soccer team.

 

They were met by two representatives of the team’s marketing department and given a tour of the players’ area before walking through the tunnel and out onto the field.

 

From the standpoint of the grass, the Perugia staff members gave an excellent run-down of the various forms and quantities of in-stadium advertising and seating, all while fielding questions about attendance, market difficulties, and plans for the future.

 

After being walked across the grounds and shown the newly-renovated youth academy fields, they were treated to an explanation of the club’s finances and their efforts to better integrate their marketing efforts with those of their sponsors.

 

Of course, through, we’re in Italy, so the field trip ended with lunch at a local restaurant. A great pizza antipasto, followed by some legendary mozzarella di bufala and a plate of freshly-made pasta: buon appetito!

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Umbra Students Give Back

Caitlin Addlesperger | Thursday, June 21st, 2012

On Wednesday morning, Umbra Institute students from Chapman University found a shady place between the olive oil and honey vendors in the weekly market in Piazza Matteoti, “adopting” their handmade dolls to benefit UNICEF, an international children’s rights and relief organization.

 

The Umbra students have spent the last few weeks alongside Italian students from the University of Perugia and local UNICEF volunteers, designing and sewing the dolls, which are the symbol of the Italian chapter of UNICEF. Called le pigotte, the dolls are “adopted” – sold – typically for about 20 euro. This funds a vaccine kit that will protect a child and his or her mother against diseases in developing countries.

 

 

 

The students found the opportunity to give back during their short summer study abroad experience in Perugia, Italy, through the Umbra Institute’s Community Engagement program. With the help of Umbra’s partnerships with local businesses, nonprofits, and schools, the initiative offers students the opportunity to learn through immersion into the Perugian culture. 

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Food Studies Program Students Intern At Italian Winery

Zachary Nowak | Friday, May 25th, 2012

Experientia docet is the motto of the Umbra Institute: Experience teaches. Two Food Studies Program students, Julia Rackow (Tufts University) and Kimberly Goldman University of Wisconsin), just finished a month working at the Lungarotti Winery in Torgiano, near Perugia. The two students began preparing for the internship in January, working with Umbra Institute staff member Mauro Renna to learn search engine optimization and other skills. The two students then spent an intensive month at the winery, working with Lungarotti personnel on the winery’s English-language site. We sat down with them recently to hear what they thought about their time at Umbria’s best winery.

 

 

Continue reading →

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Student Perspectives: Volunteering with Monimbò

Julie Falk | Thursday, April 12th, 2012

Both of us Umbra students, Jenna Snelgrove and Emily Pietrzak have always been interested in volunteering.  So when the opportunity came up to volunteer at the local fair trade store, Monimbò, we both jumped at it. Neither of us had ever had much experience with fair trade besides maybe hearing the words from time to time, never connecting what they really meant and how important they are to be aware of. Being able to work in a store that sells only fair trade items from producers all around the world connected us to this “altro mercato” where the workers making these products are treated fairly and paid an honest living wage. Finding out about the ways in which workers worldwide are abused and paid pennies for their work is a serious social issue that needs to be talked about and addressed, and this volunteer opportunity certainly opened our eyes and encouraged us both to pursue this issue further in the future.

 

So, once a week for the past few months, we would head on over to Monimbò, and help out around the shop.  We usually interact with Paolo, who does not speak any English, and he would give us our tasks for the day. Usually our duties would consist of helping out around the shop such as creating customized bomboniere for customers, stocking shelves, and overall making sure the store stays in tip-top shape.  Being forced into a situation with strictly Italian has definitely been a learning experience.  It has certainly been a challenging one, especially for Emily who has just started out Italian–mamma mia!

 

But having an opportunity such as this where English is not an option has helped improve our conversational understanding and speaking skills immensely. We conversed often with Silvia, another volunteer at Monimbò who also owns her own fair trade store in Assisi. Talking with Silvia was one of the things we looked forward to every week, because we were able to chat comfortably about a variety of things and not feel intimidated about speaking the language with a native-speaker. This practice proved extremely useful for us, and also gave Silvia an opportunity to practice her English on us in return!

 

Being involved in Monimbò gave us a much more well-rounded experience at Umbra because it allowed us to be present in the society of Perugia, outside of school. We were able to interact with locals and feel as though we were giving back to the community that we love being surrounded by every day. One of the most beneficial aspects of this volunteer opportunity was being able to use the language we learned in class and put it into practical use to discuss one of the most prominent social issues we have today. Overall, Monimbò  is a small shop with a lot of heart that has given both of us a sense of being more present in society here in Perugia, and introduced us to the idea and the hope that “un altro mondo è possible.”

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Umbrian Medical Ethics Committee Talks With Umbra Students

Zachary Nowak | Wednesday, March 28th, 2012

Two members of the Medical Ethics Committee of the Region of Umbria were at the Umbra Institute yesterday to discuss the ethical issues surrounding the definition of life and to present current Italian legislation on living wills. Doctors Linda Richieri and Antonio Perelli were invited by Professor Michael Chiariello, professor of philosophy for St. Bonaventure University, Franciscan Heritage Semester Study Abroad Program, and senior Umbra faculty member, organized the encounter as part of his course “Medicine, Ethics and Law: An International Perspective.”

In the photo: Antonio Perelli, Francesco Gardenghi, Michael Chiariello, and Linda Richieri.

 

The course familiarizes students with the outstanding ethical and legal problems facing medicine today, as well as giving them a broad, international perspective on questions of medical ethics. Students grapple with end-of-life issues, using real-life examples like the Terry Schiavo case, as well as similar Italian cases like the “caso Englaro.” Dr.Chiariello’s guests gave an overview of the Italian viewpoint on the current debate about whether brain death should still be the legal definition of death. The two doctors also had an animated discussion with students about living wills and whom should vested with the decision of when life (or quality of life) ends.

 

Participants in the discussion included Ms.Judy Chiariello, assistant director of the Program, as well as dottor Francesco Gardenghi, Umbra’s Assistant Director for Italian Institutional and Community Relations, who coordinated the visit. Professor Chiariello commented later that “the course is intended for students interested in law or medicine.  My hope is that it will help them become professionals with a greater awareness of ethical issues and their philosophical foundations, and a more global intercultural appreciation of their practical reality.”

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Service Learning Project in Umbria, Italy

Julie Falk | Thursday, March 15th, 2012

Students from BSEU 390: Business in Europe and BSIM 390: International Marketing have joined forces with the Umbria regional government’s Office of Internationalization for an exciting service learning project. The project is based on helping the regional government preserve and promote the region’s traditional, high-quality handcrafted artisan products (ceramics, textiles and furniture) in Italy and abroad. 

 

Both classes met with the Office of Internationalization’s director and manager and last Friday, students visited several artisan companies in Città di Castello, a picturesque town near Perugia. Having interviewed company managers, students now have a better understanding of the products’ rich history and their business operations’ strengths and weaknesses.

 

Now, the real service begins. In class, students will brainstorm and strategize how to promote these incredible artisan goods in the United States. As innovative young Americans, students will apply theories from class and their own creativity to preserve truly old Italian traditions. This real-life case study has practical benefits for everyone involved and is a great example of collaboration between different generations, languages, cultures and countries. 

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