A Summer Spent Exploring Distant Cultures

By Tanjua Damon

Learning about different countries and cultures led two Newtown High School students to Central Connecticut State University every Saturday from March to June to participate in the college level course, “Passport for Global Citizenship.”

Jared Trillhaase and Marie Wolferseder, both seniors, wanted to learn about different parts of the world and thought the free class would be a great opportunity to do that as well as meet other students from urban and suburban towns.

The two learned about a different part of the world each Saturday for four months. During the class they were given tests and had to write papers about culture and diversity. The group also took a trip to the United Nations in New York City.

The course took students to cultures around the world – Eastern and Western Europe, Asia, Middle East, South and Central America, Mexico, and Africa.

“We have a good understanding if someone talks about a particular region,” Jared said. “It was an educational experience. It was fun and interesting. We learned about different cultures and aspects of it.”

Marie said the course provided her with knowledge to better understand different cultures in different situations.

“I’ll be able to take the knowledge of all the different cultures together and how to react to different ethnicities,” she said. “And just how to coordinate and cooperate with other cultures.”

Stepping out of their “comfort zones” was one challenge both students faced while attending the Saturday course. The students found it educational to be one of the minority students compared to being of the majority while at school.

“The biggest challenge was switching from the majority to the minority. Trying to understand what each culture does or has done traditionally,” Marie said. “If the idea should ever cross my mind of prejudices, this helped me know how I will react to people when I’m older.”

Jared agreed understanding different cultures comes in part from having the knowledge and background of those cultures so that you can better understand why things are done.

“My biggest challenge was stepping out of my comfort zone. Realizing that everyone isn’t like me,” he said. “Even though I knew that already that fact in my mind was confirmed.”

Marie found the Latin culture interesting and one she would like to learn more about.

“There’s part of the Latin culture I had never seen before,” Marie said. “The pictures were so beautiful, unlike anything I had seen before.”

Jared was intrigued with the Eastern European culture. He has spent some of this life in Germany and enjoys the European culture.

“Eastern Europe has a very rich culture,” Jared said. “I would definitely like to explore there more.”

The students found out about the free college course from the Career Center located at Newtown High School.