Alternative spring break offers Jamaican trip, opportunity to learn foreign culture

For the third year in a row, students will be jetting off to Jamaica for spring break to earn IU credit. \nRoots, Fruits and Jamaican Ecologies: Cultural, Agricultural and Environmental Initiatives in the Blue and John Crow Mountains is a three-credit, service-learning course being offered again this year as an "alternative spring break." \nDuring the trip, students will participate in service-learning projects and mini-seminars while working with farmers, park rangers, environmentalists, community leaders, musicians and poets. Students will be working to combine ecotourism with sustainable agriculture, John Galuska, director of the Foster International Living-Learning Center and one of the course's instructors, said in an e-mail.\n"The best thing about this class is we get to experience everything we talk about in class," Galuska said. "We learn about Jamaican history and culture, but then we get to go and see and interact with the people and the environment."\nThere will be 10 class sessions before the group's departure for the 10-day trip to Jamaica. After the trip, students will participate in a two-week "wrap up" of the course. \nThe class, provided through the overseas studies office as OVST-J497, will begin Feb. 5 and end March 30. The trip to Jamaica will be March 8-19.\nPrior to the trip, students will learn Jamaican culture and history, as well as ecological principles and Caribbean ecosystems, according to a class flier.\nRoots and Fruits is a partnership between IU, the Jamaica Conservation and Development Trust and the community of Millbank in eastern Jamaica, according to the flier. \nThe professors said they want their students to leave the class with a respect for environmental concerns. \n"We want them to see and be concerned with environmental issues," Galuska said. "We want to give people experience to actually take action on a topic. We encourage students to take initiative and do things with the issues."\nThe course can accommodate 15 students, and participants must fill out an application, which is available at www.indiana.edu/~overseas/applications/jamaica_sl.shtml.\nThe application must be reviewed and approved before registering for the class. Applications turned in before Nov. 30 will be given priority. Also, students are asked to submit a letter of reference, and it must be submitted online at www.indiana.edu/~overseas/forms/prof.shtml.\nThe course's cost ranges from $2,226 for in-state students to $2,426 for out-of-state students, Galuska said in an e-mail. Costs include the three credit hours, round-trip airfare, ground transportation, food, lodging and workshop fees. A nonrefundable deposit is due Dec. 15.\nA valid passport is needed to participate, and students are responsible for passport-related costs.\nThe sponsors for the spring break trip are Residential Programs and Services, IU Overseas Study, Foster International Living-Learning Center, the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies and Community Outreach and Partnerships in Service-Learning.