Summer Programs
From Baltimore to the Himalayas:
International Education to Challenge Global Thresholds
Status Quo
International education and travel is usually only available to resource rich American students. Lack of foreign travel for young people from resource poor communities perpetuates cultural illiteracy in an increasingly global economy, denying them exposure to an enormous range of future professional opportunities. US State Department research shows that privileged youth who visit developing countries show increased life skills, leadership, decision–making, community service and professional development.
Opportunity
In response, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health is partnering with the Baltimore–based Incentive Mentoring Program (IMP) for a pilot program to send 12 IMP high school seniors from Dunbar High School to India for a six-week cultural immersion, service-learning and research program. Students will develop their cross–cultural skills through a two–week homestay experience in a rural Himalayan village, a service–learning project in the urban slums of Delhi, active participation in an ethnographic research project led by a Johns Hopkins School of Education faculty member, as well as trekking, rafting, and cultural excursions.
These seniors were selected by IMP their freshman year because they were at high risk for failing out of high school. While IMP has successfully supported them through high school, they face significant challenges entering college. A recent report shows that only 42 percent of incoming African–American college freshmen graduate from college.[2] Studies suggest that African–Americans who experience more intergroup contact before college adjust better to university.[3],[4],[5] IMP to India expects to increase IMP students’ college graduation rates and professional outcomes after this six-week intervention.
The Future
The IMP to India program will serve as a pilot program for future IMP seniors. As local community service is an integral component of the IMP model — international community service is a natural extension of the program. If IMP to India improves college satisfaction and graduation rates, traveling overseas to developing countries will serve as an annual transition from high school to college for future cohorts.
This six–week international program will also provide formative research for the development of an international boarding school, the proposed Mangalam School. The Mangalam School is a two–year residential middle school in northern India that will serve three disparate groups of male students from resource–poor communities: Baltimore City; rural Somerset County, MD; and India. It is modeled off of the Baraka School which ran from 1996–2003 and sent Baltimore City African American middle school boys to Kenya for two years. The Mangalam School will be a partnership between Johns Hopkins School of Education, Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, and the Agency for Non Konventional Urban Rural Initiatives (ANKURI), which is an Indian NGO. Through the anthropological expertise of JHU faculty, IMP students will help to develop the Mangalam School by conducting qualitative research in the school’s proposed location of Rikholi, India. Their findings will be used to inform the Mangalam school’s design, engage potential funders and partners, as well as recruit future students. Studies show that students who participate in cooperative education report clear connections between their job, schoolwork, and career paths.[6] IMP students will be encouraged to play an active role in the Mangalam School as counselors and interns once the school is launched in the fall of 2011.
Interested in supporting us or learning more?
Daniela Lewy
dlewy@jhsph.edu
201 264 7192
