International Week focuses on diversity

CHILLICOTHE - A recent effort to help Ohio University-Chillicothe learn more about different cultures and countries was deemed a success by university officials.

OU-C students in the education course, EDEC 2600 Global Early Childhood: Programs and Practices, recently presented their international early childhood education and care posters as part of International Week. Some students from the summer section joined fall semester students for the event.

Education students from other classes helped host the event. Kelsey Clay, Lydia Coleman and Sarah Cydrus coordinated international-themed foods for sampling; Lauren Stout designed passports to visitors to the various ECEC posters; Sara Palmer hosted a table that displayed a variety of multicultural books; and Chelsea Irvin and Becca Schutte were greeters and passport checkers. They were among other students who supported the International Week event.

“When OU-C students learned about International Week at OU, they wanted to be a part of it. The idea of a poster presentation actually came from a small group of students, who inspired me to adapt a course assignment from a PowerPoint presentation to an academic poster presentation,” said Mary Barbara Trube, professor of education and the faculty sponsor of the event.

Among the countries represented were Afghanistan (Kirsten Bradley presented by Hannah Jury), China (Dominique Watson), Germany (Sarah Leasure & Nate Meddler), Haiti (Rachel Rodriguez and Drew Brown), India (Abby Storts), Mexico (Emily Ross presented by Ashleigh Gray), Nepal (Kathryn Rapp), North Korea & South Korea (Brittany Howard), Poland (Shannon Stroup),  Italy (Caitlynn Whitten), Japan (Leslie Lemo) and Uganda (Emily Richards). The students gained insights that will help them in their academic and professional pursuits.

“It was interesting to learn of a different culture and the diversity that exists,” said Drew Brown, a middle childhood major. “During my career, I will probably have students from different cultures in the classroom. From this, I will be better able to relate their experiences to our educational system in the United States.”

Shannon Strop, an early childhood education major, said. “This will make me a better teacher by helping to understand international students and their point of view. There are so many different countries, and the way that other systems function can be different than in the United States.”

Ashleigh Gray, an early childhood education major, said, “I am a big fan of diversity, so I think this is great. In fact, I just wrote a research paper on the importance of diversity in education.”

EDEC 2600 is a Tier II Cross-Cultural course that focuses on early childhood education, care, and development from an international perspective, and includes studying the United Nations; Convention on Rights of the Child and elements within the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development impacting the global community.