Workshop Descriptions
SERVICE LEARNING: Taking Students to India: Offering a First-Hand Experience of Caste, Class, Community and Controlled Chaos
Presenters:
Chris Kolovos, Belmont Hill School, MA
Brad Nicholson, Peddie School, NJ
Nathan Scott, SAGE Program, CO (moderator)
Amanda Wastrom, Noble & Greenough School, MA
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This workshop will consist of a panel presentation and discussion by teachers who have actually taken groups of students to India. Each presenter will discuss the focus of their trip, their practical experiences in India, student learning, and lessons learned. This will be followed by a general discussion with the audience, including considerable time for questions and observations from workshop attendees. While caste is not the specific focus of this workshop, a discussion of how to design a trip that isn't dominated by upper-caste perspectives on India will be included.
This workshop is offered as a counterpoint to the more theoretical discussions and presentations of caste in India. It will offer suggestions and best practices for designing, developing, and carrying out a student trip to India, including tips on what not to do! Workshop participants will receive copies of sample trip itineraries, travel resources, trip curricula, and suggestions for fundraising.
Presenter Bios:
Chris Kolovos is a member of the history department and the Director of Global Education at Belmont Hill School. In that capacity, he coordinates global initiatives on and off campus, including group trips, exchanges, curriculum, speakers, and on-campus programs. He recently led a service-learning trip of 15 students to Varanasi, India, where students worked with Smile Train, an NGO providing free cleft lip and palate surgeries to children around the world. Chris earned his A.B. and J.D. from Harvard University.
Brad Nicholson coordinates the Asian Studies Program at Peddie School and teaches world history, including a single-term elective on Modern India. He has recently led two Peddie trips to India, one for faculty and one for students, and also serves as the Program Director for the Perspectives India summer program in Jaipur. Following up on an undergraduate degree at Williams College, Brad spent a year studying Indian religions with Charlie Ryerson at Princeton, later completing an M.A. in Religious Studies at the University of Virginia that focused on Indian religions. Brad has been to India many times to visit his father, who worked for Habitat for Humanity India, including a trip to Haridwar in 2003 to immerse his father’s ashes in the Ganges River.
Nathan Kumar Scott was born and raised in India, speaks fluent Hindi, and studied at Woodstock School. He has a B.A. from Oberlin College in anthropology, and an M.A. from the University of Washington in South Asian Studies. Nathan has been a Watson Fellow, studying non-formal education throughout South and Southeast Asia, as well as a Fulbright Fellow in India, studying Indian puppetry and performing arts. He currently serves as the Executive Director of Studies Abroad for Global Education, SAGE, whose mission is to provide transformative educational opportunities for middle & high school students. SAGE leads many groups to India, including many EFTI schools.
Amanda Wastrom teaches visual arts at the Noble and Greenough School. For the past two years, she has taken a group of students and faculty on a two week service learning trip to northern India, assisting a local NGO with community development in the foothills of the Himalayas. After completing her master's degree in fine arts from Tufts University and the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Amanda spent a year teaching english in a public school in East Java, Indonesia as part of a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship. In addition to teaching and coaching, she is an artist, writer, and an avid gardener.