Students to study abroad during summer

Northwestern College students will travel to the Czech Republic, Germany, Israel, Japan and Turkey this summer through three-week study abroad programs offered by NWC faculty.

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.

German language, culture and history are the focus of a course taught by Dr. Michael Kensak, a professor in the English and foreign languages departments, and Glenda De Vries, a German tutor and manager of Northwestern’s bookstore. Along with daily German language classes, students will study German consumer habits and lifestyle choices, the country’s Gothic cathedrals and art, and attitudes toward the environment and American foreign policy.

Kim Van Es, a member of Northwestern’s English faculty, and her husband, Dr. Jerry Van Es, a Sioux Center physician and 1971 NWC graduate, will lead students in a study abroad program to Israel and Palestine. The class will visit Bethlehem, Jericho, Jerusalem and Nazareth while learning about faith and justice in that region of the world.

History professor Dr. Doug Carlson will guide another group of students in a course examining Japan’s history and culture—from the ancient Samurai to contemporary issues of gender, religion, Individualism and youth culture. Students will stay with host families in Shimonoseki and visit Hiroshima, Osaka, Kyoto and Tokyo.

Dr. Laird Edman, professor of psychology, and Dr. Sally Oakes Edman, a psychologist and director of Northwestern’s counseling services, are team-teaching the course in Turkey. Students on that trip will study psychology, religion and Middle Eastern culture in a Muslim country with a secular democracy. Included in the trip is a home stay in Cappadocia, where houses are partially built out of caves in the rock.