Students to study abroad during summer

Dr. Joel Westerholm, professor of English, and his wife, Kim, a registered nurse and co-director of Community Health Partners in Orange City, will co-lead a three-week course in India. The class will explore Indian culture through literature and a nursing theory centered on a patient’s experience with health care.

Lecturers at the Christian Counselling Centre in Vellore will teach Northwestern’s students about Indians customs and perspectives. Students will also have the opportunity to work alongside Indian Christians at an orphanage in Vellore and at the Ida Scudder Memorial Hospital and Creche in Ranipet. Day trips to Bangalore and a home-stay weekend are also part of the program.

The Czech study abroad course will examine that nation’s “physical culture”—a concept that encompasses fitness and sports but that also links physical vigor with nationalism. Dr. Paul Bartlett, kinesiology, and Vonda Post, business, will lead students in comparing and contrasting various aspects of physical culture of the U.S. and the Czech Republic, including such topics as historical/philosophical development, delivery systems, social issues, and economic considerations.

The three-week program will include lectures by Czech university professors and the opportunity to teach physical education classes and to interact with Czech university students. The Northwestern students will be based in Prague but will travel to the Czech Olympic training center and participate in a weekend excursion to Pardubice that will include a home-stay experience.