Bucket List Ranaiya Kirkindoff

When I was told to come up with a bucket list my mind went blank. Growing up I would always hear about people's bucket lists on TV and social media. I would never hear that people I know in real life have one.

The first thing on my bucket list is traveling to all seven continents. My first time traveling on a airplane was on a family trip to Florida when was in the 10th grade. Ever since then I’ve loved traveling by airplane. Also, learning about the different cultures around the world and their traditions would be pretty fascinating.

Being a business owner has always been a dream of mine. I would really like to open up a Beauty Shop because hairdressing has always been a passion of mine. I’ve been doing hair since I was little, but I didn’t start doing others hair and having clients until I was in the 10th grade. In Black culture the beauty shop is a place where we can vent, laugh, cry, and connect with other people all through hair.

Getting my doctoral degree in music has recently been something added to my bucket list. Music has been in my life since I was born. My whole family sings and plays instruments. Music has always been something that I gravitated to more than anything else. Music is healing in a way, when you don’t have the words you have music, the sounds, the lyrics, the way the music makes you feel. Being able to teach others the ins and outs of music and being able to connect with them is important to me.

Ever since I was little I’ve always had big dreams and aspirations; I have accomplished many of them. Hopefully, I can push myself to cross more things off of my bucket list in the next ten years. To many it might seem impossible and intimidating but I love a good challenge.

SAU and NPC Sign MOU for Honors 2 + 2

The SAU Honors College welcomes its newest honors 2 + 2 partner, National Park College.

With this addition the Honors College now has four two-year partners. These 2 + 2 memoranda enable students from those two-year colleges to earn honors credits during their time there and then transfer those credits towards SAU's 24 hour honors credit minimum.

These 2 + 2 programs benefit students and their respective schools. Without them transferring into the SAU Honors College would be nearly impossible because, with only junior and senior years left, those students would have difficulty in reaching the honors credit minimum.

The new Honors Arkansas group fully supports two-year honors programs and is working to implement such MOUs statewide as part of its mission to:

• stop brain drain
• attract new out-of-state honors-qualified students
• make honors education more important to statewide leaders by collecting data on honors in the state
• create a common pipeline from the two-year schools to the honors colleges  

Southern Arkansas and Appalachian State Travel to Cuba

The following document was submitted today for consideration in the 2017 NCHC Program. That meeting will be held in Atlanta in November.

Submitted to NCHC Meeting in Atlanta, November 2017

Title

Cuba and Honors: Two Colleges Experience International Education

Authors

Edward Kardas, Southern Arkansas University

Joseph Gonzalez, Appalachian State University

Laura Nash, Southern Arkansas University

Paige Anderholm, Appalachian State University

Kenyon Jeffrey, Appalachian State University

Abstract

Two professors and three students from two schools describe their experiences in traveling to Cuba. For SAU, traveling to Cuba required two week-long preparatory visits, attendance at an international conference in Havana, two 8-day tours with students, personal contact with Cuban officials, and overcoming much red tape. Speaking and writing Spanish well were important in many ways to ultimately getting permission to visit and to work with Cuban faculty and students for a week on their campus. The result was the creation of a large mural on their campus. The student from SAU traveled there during the third trip visiting several cities on the island. The short time spent there felt like several weeks, she said. She found Cuba beautiful, clear, and clean and noted that Cubans scrimped and saved for their cars, farms, and daily lives. She was struck on how much the Embargo had slowed progress. She wishes to return to continue learning about the unique experiences Cuba has to offer. ASU's visits were part of a course on Cuban culture (including music and dance). The first trip showed mixed results in that students treated it more like a vacation than a learning opportunity. Thus, changes were made during the subsequent trip (increasing academic rigor and recruiting serious participants). Those changes were successful and will be reported here. Students acted more like travelers, not tourists. They avoided the tourist sites, slept in private homes, and traveled in buses and taxis. They  reported that Cuba offered friendship, spectacle, music, dance, and food, but the language barrier was a challenge. At the same time, they realized their responsibility to act as ambassadors from a country many Cubans still viewed as an implacable enemy. The trip made them view themselves in new and more mature ways. 

Track

General Session

Topic Areas

•    International Education

•    Honors Pedagogy

•    Faculty

LCD Projector Requested?

Yes

LCD Projector Information

Yes

Mac Adaptors

Yes

Description for the conference program

Professors and students from two colleges describe the challenges, opportunities, and rewards of traveling to Cuba. Getting there requires overcoming much red tape and a working knowledge of Spanish. Cuba offers unique cultural, agricultural, historical, and artistic opportunities for Americans, especially for those who come as travelers not tourists.

If you have presented a similar session at NCHC or a related conference in the recent past, please indicate why the topic is relevant for presentation in 2017.

Submission Date

9th Mar 2017, 10:27am EST

Latest Update

9th Mar 2017, 11:49am EST

Submission ID

390

Carter Jones talks about his trip to Russia

Carter Jones shows slides of this trip to Russia in the summer of 2010. He's wearing one of the three Russian Army hats he bought in Moscow.

Honors College student Carter Jones spoke at the Magnolia Room of the Reynolds Campus and Community Center on Thursday, November 4, 2010. Jones spent two weeks in Moscow during the summer of 2010 as part of the student exchange program between SAU and the Moscow Pedagogical State University. Jones's trip was funded by the David Sixbey Foreign Studies Endowment.

Jones showed slides showing some of the sites he visited during his time in Russia. He also spoke about some of impressions of life in Moscow. He noted that vehicular traffic in Moscow was "something else" and that getting anywhere by car took a lot of time. He found that taking the subway was much more efficient. He said that, at first, he was a little apprehensive about traveling on the subway. But, by the end of his visit he was quite comfortable doing so. It helped, he said, that he could read Russian. There was very little signage in English in Russia. In fact, at his dorm there were more signs in Chinese than in English. He only found Russian who spoke any English.

A large crowd of students, staff, and faculty listened to the talk and asked a large number of questions. Some questions were about food. Jones said he was able to eat well, buying groceries nearby and preparing them in his room. He talked about the kinds of food and drink available in Russia. He especially liked their ice cream. He was there during one of their hottest summers on record, so that made the ice cream even more delightful. The menu at the McDonald's Restaurant in Moscow was nearly identical to that of any domestic outlet. Jones said, however, that ordering Chicken McNuggets successfully required him to say his order in a Russian accent. The Starbucks in Moscow was totally identical to any American franchise, he said. But the coffee seemed to taste better for some reason. Also, the Starbucks was the only place he found that had any air conditioning. One drink he found intriguing was kvass, a drink made from bread. Jones said it was like drinking liquid sourdough. Over the course of his time there he became more accustomed to drinking it.

When asked if the time he spent in Moscow was long enough, Jones responded that the longer he was there, the more he enjoyed it. His first few days were rough and he wanted to go home. But, by the end of his stay he wished he could have stayed longer. The Moscow Pedagogical University does not have a summer term. So, SAU students wishing to have longer stays must schedule them during the fall or spring semesters. 

A portion of the audience at the talk immediately after its conclusion.

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