Global Service-Learning: Bolivia, Uganda, India
Since 2008, the McCarthy Center has offered a global service-learning program in partnership with the Sarlo Family Foundation and the Foundation for Sustainable Development since 2008. The Sarlo Scholars program begins with a preparatory course in the spring semester, extends through the summer with a ten-week sustainable development internship abroad, and culminates with an intensive reflection and research-focused course in the fall. The program sends up to fifteen students each year to Bolivia, Uganda or India, to live with host families and intern at grassroots organizations addressing one or more of the following issues: education, health care, women’s rights, environmental preservation, community empowerment, and human rights. In 2012, students will be located in Cochabamba (Bolivia), Masaka (Uganda), and Udaipur (India).
To ensure academic rigor, the courses that bookend the program are taught collaboratively by USF faculty, McCarthy Center staff, FSD, and community partners with expertise in the host countries and/or sustainable development work. Sarlo Scholars receive ten credits for completing this program, which provides every participant with a transformative experience designed to clarify personal values, enhance professional skills, foster cultural inclusion, and promote civic engagement.
Full funding is provided by the Sarlo Family Foundation and the McCarthy Center to cover air travel, internship program fees through FSD, and USF course credits so all students can participate regardless of their financial situation. Through the Sarlo Scholars program, students gain the global perspective on citizenship necessary to make positive social change in a world of interconnected political and economic systems and interdependent societies.
