School Year Abroad Partners with Global Studies Foundation, Adds Service Learning to its High School Study Abroad Summer Program in Italy

LAWRENCE, Mass., Dec. 4, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- School Year Abroad (SYA) is pleased to be working again with the Global Studies Foundation (GSF) to offer a second, enhanced round of their five-week high school summer experience in Viterbo, Italy. The fundamentals of SYA Summer World Citizen Initiative are project-based global studies, intensive language study, cultural immersion, and family homestay. New this year is a week-long service learning and environmental project on the Italian island of Lampedusa, situated off the North African coast.

SYA's goal is to prepare high school students to become citizens of the world by providing them with a study abroad experience where they learn a new language and culture and live with a host family. "During our five-week summer program, we realize that we have to be extremely intentional with the curriculum and planned activities in order to achieve this kind of student transformation," said SYA Summer Director Whitney Hermann.

SYA has partnered with Chris Harth, PhD, President of GSF and Director of Global Studies at St. Andrew's School in Mississippi, in order to develop a curriculum which fuses the local and the global perspectives. "The World Citizen Initiative goes farther than other study abroad programs," said Dr. Harth, "by explicitly emphasizing the development of essential twenty-first century skills, intentionally connecting students who are studying the same issues in different parts of the world, and by providing hands-on research and service-learning opportunities that enable students to make a positive contribution to our world while they are learning more about it." 

During the final week of the SYA Summer program, students will apply their Italian language skills while working on two service learning projects in Lampedusa: research on immigration and refugees and community service focused on the environment and marine wildlife, which will be conducted in partnership with the World Wildlife Federation.

To learn more about SYA's World Citizen Initiative, visit www.sya.org/summer.

About School Year Abroad

Founded in 1964, School Year Abroad (SYA) offers high school academic programs in China, France, Italy and Spain. The central elements of SYA—the homestay, cultural immersion and an academic program emphasizing foreign language acquisition—ensure that students realize a mastery of the language and better understanding of themselves and the world. SYA offers over $2.7 million in need-based financial aid to ensure a diverse, qualified student body.

SOURCE School Year Abroad