The Class of 2017 has finished its first year as Pericleans!  It almost doesn’t seem that we only just started this program and are already a third of the way done with it.  Time really does fly!

During our first semester, we learned as much as we could about Namibia, keeping up with the country’s news while also studying history and culture. With the first step of research well underway, we knew that this semester would be the time to move forward to the next stages of project searching and partner vetting.

Over the semester, we created both short- and long-term goals to act as checkpoints in our progress.  Knowing we had limited weekly class time, we worked to ensure that each class was dedicated to how we wanted to move forward.

After looking at some organizations we may have the opportunity to work with, the class fell heavily interested in working to create a project around the mission Grow Biointensive and Ecology Action carry, which is to create sustainable agriculture in environmentally difficult areas to grow crops.
From this point, we have vetted the organization and had the opportunity to Skype with the Director of Grow Biointensive.  Talking to the Director about their mission only made our class more excited about what we could potentially complete in the next few semesters.

As we get ready for the next year, we are staying in contact with our class via email for the summer.  We have also created a project map for summer goals in which each student is responsible to stay involved with a specific task we want to complete before coming back in the fall.

Over the semester, we have also grown as a class, taking on the roles as mentors to the Periclean Class of 2018 and becoming closer, through social events, with our own class.

We look forward to coming back in the fall with an exciting project and the beginning plans of how we, as Pericleans, can be a part of it.

Peace, Love, Periclean

Oly and Sarah R

 

Hiya! My name is Oly Zayac, and I am both honored and thrilled to be a part of the Periclean Class of 2017!

One of the most enticing aspects offered, here, at Elon is its fantastic study abroad opportunities.  While trying to find my roommate in a sea of people at the organization fair, I suddenly backtracked to a poster with big letters spelling “Namibia.”  My first impression of Periclean was that it was yet another opportunity to go abroad and experience another culture.  It was love at first sight. Learning more and more about the tremendous learning experience of Periclean offers grew the initial infatuation into a full-hearted love affair.

As a Communications Fellow, I am studying both Journalism and Anthropology.  With a history professor father with a background in England and Slovakia and a researcher mother with a strong Polish upbringing, I have been so fortunate to be exposed to many cultures.  For as long as I can remember, studying cultures, even as a child reading Eyewitness Books, has always been my biggest passion.  So much that I hope to, one day, have the opportunity to create documentaries that explore indigenous communities  around the world.

I hope that through Periclean, I will get my first taste of this kind of work.  I hope to learn the values of connecting with people of different cultures.  I hope to understand not only how we can help communities but how they can help us learn as it has always fascinated me how much we learn about our own culture when we remove ourselves from it and observe it from others’ perspectives.  I hope to learn all I can about Namibia and its effects on the world.

I am so excited to get started and begin building lasting friendships with the rest of the Class of 2017! Let the adventure to Namibia–and beyond–begin!