In recent years, a number of majors, minors and concentrations with names like sustainable food systems, organic agriculture, and agroecology have cropped up in colleges of agriculture nationwide. Not simply synonymous with "organic," but incorporating that aspect under its umbrella, sustainable agriculture programs are often interdisciplinary in nature.
Developed to varying degrees in response to rising student interest in all things green, a changing food industry, and diminishing enrollments in more traditional agricultural programs, "these programs are one of the latter indicators of things changing because they require acceptance by faculty and administrators," says Damian Parr, a doctoral candidate in agricultural and environmental education at the University of California at Davis.
What programs exist in this field?
The University of Maine, it's fair to say, was way ahead of the pack; the university launched a bachelor of science degree in sustainable agriculture in 1988. There, too, sustainable agriculture was seen as an antidote for declining enrollments.
Meanwhile, Montana State University's sustainable food and bioenergy systems undergraduate major is brand-new, having been approved by the Board of Regents in November. The B.S. degree is jointly run by the College of Agriculture and the College of Education, Health and Human Development, which houses nutrition, explains Mary Stein, the program coordinator. "I think this program does a nice job addressing not only the agricultural production aspect but also the implications for human health, for local economies, for farm viability, preservation of farmland. I think taking a systems approach to these problems is really a strength of this program."
In 2006, as part of a larger curricular effort to emphasize whole agricultural and food systems, Washington State University created a new major in organic agriculture systems. Undergraduate certificates are also available, and in 2008 the university launched a graduate certificate in sustainable agriculture, says Jessica Goldberger, an assistant professor in the Department of Community and Rural Sociology. In assessing the various programs, they've found that students "are very much enjoying the hands-on learning experiences,"
she says. "And I think you see that across the country, this demand for more out-of-the-classroom, practical learning experiences.
Students are very much enjoying these kinds of classes, especially since a lot of the students that are attracted to sustainable and organic agricultural programs don't necessarily have agricultural backgrounds."
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Biomedical Research Interests Student Studying at Columbia University
Profile of Enkelejda Bashllari - Download MP3
Listen to Profile of Enkelejda Bashllari
Enkelejda Bashllari came to the United States as an exchange student on an academic program when she was seventeen. Now, the Albania native is in the city of New York furthering her education. “Currently, I am a PhD candidate at the Columbia University Medical Center studying for a very inter-disclipinary program in Cellular, Molecular, and Biophysics. I do Biomedical research and I am on a full scholarship to attend Columbia University.”
The field of science has always interest Enkelejda. The twenty-five year old says her major gives her a sense of satisfaction to be learning so much about it. “Biomedical research makes me feel intellectually satisfied. It challenges me, perplexes me, but at the end of the day it makes me fulfilled,” she says. I couldn’t see myself doing anything else. This is in addition to the fact that I have always had an interest in Science. I have always been very curious since I was very young,” she says.
“I think my parents, especially my father based on my questions at a very early age about how things worked felt that his daughter was going to be a scientist.”
Working with prominent leaders also has been rewarding. “Columbia University is a very good institution and has a collaborative environment and for the program that I study it is one of the best in the world,” she says.
“Here we have two noble prize winners for medicine, Dr. Kandel and Dr. Axel and many other very prominent scientific leaders in the community such as the person that I work with right now, Dr. Oliver Hobert.”
Enkelejda says international students as well as scholars attending Columbia play a big part in the community. “Well, Columbia University is a very international community and it brings together some of the most amazing people from all over the world. I have met here amazing students which have done so much with their life and have so much to talk about and tell about and they come from so many different countries,” she says.
“Right now some of my closest friends, one is from Tokyo, Japan and I never thought that one of the people that is closest to me would come from a culture that is so different from mine," she says.
"Also, I met several people from southern India. So, I think that is definitely Columbia’s greatest thing, its international community that it offers. You meet so many people with so many diverse backgrounds in this community of great scholars.”
This is Enkelejda's third year in her PhD program. She says once she is finish she is willing to work anywhere and will probably be doing some kind of research. “I think I would like to see myself doing some kind of research and I think that is what is going to happen is that I am going to be doing research, I don’t know in which kind of environment if it is going to be academia or industrial or maybe if … I am interested in also international because of my background and because I have had so many experiences in different countries I am also very interested in international policy of research,” she says. “How policies are made. That is also an interest of mine.”
Her advice to others interested in attending college in the United States is..”Things are not good or bad. They are just different. So I think that is the best advice that I can give to the coming international students who are coming to the United States,” she says. “It is a very different society.
It is a very different culture and they should not judge based on their ideas on their previous definition of (I don’t know) morality or just because things are different therefore they are bad, no that is not the case. It is not good or it is not bad. It is just different. So I think that is very important.”
Listen to Profile of Enkelejda Bashllari
Enkelejda Bashllari came to the United States as an exchange student on an academic program when she was seventeen. Now, the Albania native is in the city of New York furthering her education. “Currently, I am a PhD candidate at the Columbia University Medical Center studying for a very inter-disclipinary program in Cellular, Molecular, and Biophysics. I do Biomedical research and I am on a full scholarship to attend Columbia University.”
The field of science has always interest Enkelejda. The twenty-five year old says her major gives her a sense of satisfaction to be learning so much about it. “Biomedical research makes me feel intellectually satisfied. It challenges me, perplexes me, but at the end of the day it makes me fulfilled,” she says. I couldn’t see myself doing anything else. This is in addition to the fact that I have always had an interest in Science. I have always been very curious since I was very young,” she says.
“I think my parents, especially my father based on my questions at a very early age about how things worked felt that his daughter was going to be a scientist.”
Working with prominent leaders also has been rewarding. “Columbia University is a very good institution and has a collaborative environment and for the program that I study it is one of the best in the world,” she says.
“Here we have two noble prize winners for medicine, Dr. Kandel and Dr. Axel and many other very prominent scientific leaders in the community such as the person that I work with right now, Dr. Oliver Hobert.”
Enkelejda says international students as well as scholars attending Columbia play a big part in the community. “Well, Columbia University is a very international community and it brings together some of the most amazing people from all over the world. I have met here amazing students which have done so much with their life and have so much to talk about and tell about and they come from so many different countries,” she says.
“Right now some of my closest friends, one is from Tokyo, Japan and I never thought that one of the people that is closest to me would come from a culture that is so different from mine," she says.
"Also, I met several people from southern India. So, I think that is definitely Columbia’s greatest thing, its international community that it offers. You meet so many people with so many diverse backgrounds in this community of great scholars.”
This is Enkelejda's third year in her PhD program. She says once she is finish she is willing to work anywhere and will probably be doing some kind of research. “I think I would like to see myself doing some kind of research and I think that is what is going to happen is that I am going to be doing research, I don’t know in which kind of environment if it is going to be academia or industrial or maybe if … I am interested in also international because of my background and because I have had so many experiences in different countries I am also very interested in international policy of research,” she says. “How policies are made. That is also an interest of mine.”
Her advice to others interested in attending college in the United States is..”Things are not good or bad. They are just different. So I think that is the best advice that I can give to the coming international students who are coming to the United States,” she says. “It is a very different society.
It is a very different culture and they should not judge based on their ideas on their previous definition of (I don’t know) morality or just because things are different therefore they are bad, no that is not the case. It is not good or it is not bad. It is just different. So I think that is very important.”
Saturday, April 4, 2009
Princeton University Gives Research Skills To Student From Singapore
Profile of Sara Oon - Download mp3
Listen to Profile of Sara Oon
Profile of Sara Oon - Download Real Audio
Listen to Profile of Sara Oon
Sara OonSara Oon is a sophomore at Princeton University. She says education is something that is important, both in the classroom as well as out of the classroom. “Well I think education is necessary process that you have to go through in order to gain the skills that you’re required for the rest of your life and in the process it keeps you thinking and gets you in the habit of being more acceptive of learning,” she says.
"To me education is not something in the classroom or what you learn from your professors, but also learning about people through talking to others, interaction with others, learning about different cultures, different beliefs and in the process become more understanding, more worldly kind of person," she says. “It is not just what you get out of a textbook, but how to survive.”
Selecting Princeton as the place to study happened while going on a college tour with her parents. “I’m from Singapore and I knew that I would get the best education here because I like the liberal arts education as oppose to in Singapore where it’s the British system, so you have to choose your major before you apply to an university and you have to stick with the same subject area for the entire studies while at the university,” she says.
"My parents took me on a college tour of a few universities in the U.S. and out of all those that I visited I liked Princeton the best."
Sara is 19 years old. In high school Sara did a paper, which led her to her major now which is Operations Research and Financial Engineering. “I read up quite a bit about Operations Research before because their optimization seems to fascinate me and I also did a research project on it in high school and I managed to get my scientific paper published so I have quite a bit of background in operations research and now I am hoping to move towards finance side of that subject.” Sara says one of her challenges since being here is adjusting to the education system at Princeton. “Well it is a very different experience from the Singapore system and at first it was quite difficult adjusting not just to the culture, but also to the education system. We learn different things in school so when everyone from different high schools got together they talk about what they learn and it was a lot more similar than what I had learn and the education system is different because in Singapore we are use to having a big exam at the end of two years so we have been studying and none of the test in between count at all towards our grade,” she says.
"Over here it is different because participation counts, you have your midterm assignments and everything counts in a way towards your grade so it small for a consistence effort, but in Singapore its completely different so at first I wasn’t use to it, but now I am getting the hang of it after a year."
One thing Sara says she has come to realize is the wide variety of cultures and international scope many students have that attend Princeton. “Officially, they say that ten percent of students here are international, but I think that a lot of students at least fifty-percent of students here have some kind of international experience or a perspective, because I have met so many people who are not considered international sense because they graduated from local high school, but they spent part of their lives in other countries or their parents are from another country so they know a lot about it or they have traveled very extensively or some of them who were born here and studied partly here and partly overseas all these people have contributed to diversity and a very international campus,” she says. “One with a very global perspective and a very rich variety of cultures.
Graduation for Sara is in 2010. She says she is considering graduate school. “I’m thinking about going to professional possibly business school or maybe get an MPA, Master’s in Public Administration. I think my major is very versatile so I can do basically anything I want with it,” she says. “Most people go to the finance side of the job, and that is definitely a possibly for me, but I think I am open to a more any kind of prosessional.
Listen to Profile of Sara Oon
Profile of Sara Oon - Download Real Audio
Listen to Profile of Sara Oon
Sara OonSara Oon is a sophomore at Princeton University. She says education is something that is important, both in the classroom as well as out of the classroom. “Well I think education is necessary process that you have to go through in order to gain the skills that you’re required for the rest of your life and in the process it keeps you thinking and gets you in the habit of being more acceptive of learning,” she says.
"To me education is not something in the classroom or what you learn from your professors, but also learning about people through talking to others, interaction with others, learning about different cultures, different beliefs and in the process become more understanding, more worldly kind of person," she says. “It is not just what you get out of a textbook, but how to survive.”
Selecting Princeton as the place to study happened while going on a college tour with her parents. “I’m from Singapore and I knew that I would get the best education here because I like the liberal arts education as oppose to in Singapore where it’s the British system, so you have to choose your major before you apply to an university and you have to stick with the same subject area for the entire studies while at the university,” she says.
"My parents took me on a college tour of a few universities in the U.S. and out of all those that I visited I liked Princeton the best."
Sara is 19 years old. In high school Sara did a paper, which led her to her major now which is Operations Research and Financial Engineering. “I read up quite a bit about Operations Research before because their optimization seems to fascinate me and I also did a research project on it in high school and I managed to get my scientific paper published so I have quite a bit of background in operations research and now I am hoping to move towards finance side of that subject.” Sara says one of her challenges since being here is adjusting to the education system at Princeton. “Well it is a very different experience from the Singapore system and at first it was quite difficult adjusting not just to the culture, but also to the education system. We learn different things in school so when everyone from different high schools got together they talk about what they learn and it was a lot more similar than what I had learn and the education system is different because in Singapore we are use to having a big exam at the end of two years so we have been studying and none of the test in between count at all towards our grade,” she says.
"Over here it is different because participation counts, you have your midterm assignments and everything counts in a way towards your grade so it small for a consistence effort, but in Singapore its completely different so at first I wasn’t use to it, but now I am getting the hang of it after a year."
One thing Sara says she has come to realize is the wide variety of cultures and international scope many students have that attend Princeton. “Officially, they say that ten percent of students here are international, but I think that a lot of students at least fifty-percent of students here have some kind of international experience or a perspective, because I have met so many people who are not considered international sense because they graduated from local high school, but they spent part of their lives in other countries or their parents are from another country so they know a lot about it or they have traveled very extensively or some of them who were born here and studied partly here and partly overseas all these people have contributed to diversity and a very international campus,” she says. “One with a very global perspective and a very rich variety of cultures.
Graduation for Sara is in 2010. She says she is considering graduate school. “I’m thinking about going to professional possibly business school or maybe get an MPA, Master’s in Public Administration. I think my major is very versatile so I can do basically anything I want with it,” she says. “Most people go to the finance side of the job, and that is definitely a possibly for me, but I think I am open to a more any kind of prosessional.
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Student Studies Social Work at the University of Minnesota Duluth
Profile of Tamara Miskovic - Download (MP3)
Profile of Tamara Miskovic - Listen (MP3)
Receiving support from the University of Minnesota Duluth is the reason Tamara Miskovic is attending the university at this time. “I am from Bosnia and Herzegovina actually from the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina name Sarajevo and I came to the United States two months ago starting my social work master’s program here. Then I had an interview with the Dean of UMD,” she says. “Actually, I came here because people from the University of Minnesota Duluth were willing to support me because for young people from Bosnia and Herzegovina it is very difficult to afford money and to come abroad to study. So I got support and that was the main reason for my decision to come and study at the University of Minnesota.”
As the twenty-seven year old works towards a master's degree in social work, Tamara says her interest in the field started back home after realizing that her peers as well as herself needed basic services after the war there. "Actually, I finish social work at the university in Sarajevo and that was after the war. I was a kid during the war so social work is a human science and it attracted me to start changing not only something for myself, but also for the community and my peers in Bosnia and Herzegovina,” she says.
“So after the war there was a huge rate of unemployment. No one guaranteed that they would find employment when they finish studying. Also, if I go back to my country with my master’s degree no one will guarantee that I will be able to find work. We can always work but voluntary. Also, these days there is post-traumatic syndrome with kids who are growing up divided between religions Catholic Bosnia’s is what we call them or orthodox so the country is divided. "I work there on integrating and reconciliation through different projects and activities to save those kids there,” she says.
“Also, people are in state of basic social needs or basic human needs. They need food. They need clothes and they need it now immediately and society has bigger problems and can't give support to kids so we have to do something for ourselves and care for ourselves so that is one of the reasons and how I decided and started with social work.”
Tamara says the university is a great place and she likes the diversity among students as well as the flexibility of the professors. “The first thing that I realize immediately when I came to the university was the differences and diversity among students and for me to be among those things was a huge and very big deal,” she says.
“I liked it so much and the other thing is the program and how it is created. How theory and practice are very integrated, but sometimes we lack in other countries so I got the opportunity immediately to implement everything that I studied. Also, flexibility and openness of professors is another thing that I like so much so I have to study hard, but that is something that I like and that gives me an opportunity to learn as much as possible.”
As an international student, Tamara says one thing she would like to achieve is meeting and becoming friends with American students. “This year I was thinking I was not culture shock, but again I had to go through the process and also I am alone here I don’t have any family," she says.
"Actually I have a host mother who helped me and with whom I live now, but international students are alone here when they don’t have their community then it is more difficult for them to deal with the culture shock,” she says.
“The question I am asking people around is how to make friends with American peers, with people from America who study with us. Sometimes what I see at the university is that there are multi-cultural clubs, but I am just afraid that it is only multi-cultural people that I see there. I would like more Americans to be involved with us and to be with us and I would like us to become friends.”
As for graduating from the University of Minnesota Duluth, Tamara says...”If everything is okay I should graduate in May 2009."
Profile of Tamara Miskovic - Listen (MP3)
Receiving support from the University of Minnesota Duluth is the reason Tamara Miskovic is attending the university at this time. “I am from Bosnia and Herzegovina actually from the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina name Sarajevo and I came to the United States two months ago starting my social work master’s program here. Then I had an interview with the Dean of UMD,” she says. “Actually, I came here because people from the University of Minnesota Duluth were willing to support me because for young people from Bosnia and Herzegovina it is very difficult to afford money and to come abroad to study. So I got support and that was the main reason for my decision to come and study at the University of Minnesota.”
As the twenty-seven year old works towards a master's degree in social work, Tamara says her interest in the field started back home after realizing that her peers as well as herself needed basic services after the war there. "Actually, I finish social work at the university in Sarajevo and that was after the war. I was a kid during the war so social work is a human science and it attracted me to start changing not only something for myself, but also for the community and my peers in Bosnia and Herzegovina,” she says.
“So after the war there was a huge rate of unemployment. No one guaranteed that they would find employment when they finish studying. Also, if I go back to my country with my master’s degree no one will guarantee that I will be able to find work. We can always work but voluntary. Also, these days there is post-traumatic syndrome with kids who are growing up divided between religions Catholic Bosnia’s is what we call them or orthodox so the country is divided. "I work there on integrating and reconciliation through different projects and activities to save those kids there,” she says.
“Also, people are in state of basic social needs or basic human needs. They need food. They need clothes and they need it now immediately and society has bigger problems and can't give support to kids so we have to do something for ourselves and care for ourselves so that is one of the reasons and how I decided and started with social work.”
Tamara says the university is a great place and she likes the diversity among students as well as the flexibility of the professors. “The first thing that I realize immediately when I came to the university was the differences and diversity among students and for me to be among those things was a huge and very big deal,” she says.
“I liked it so much and the other thing is the program and how it is created. How theory and practice are very integrated, but sometimes we lack in other countries so I got the opportunity immediately to implement everything that I studied. Also, flexibility and openness of professors is another thing that I like so much so I have to study hard, but that is something that I like and that gives me an opportunity to learn as much as possible.”
As an international student, Tamara says one thing she would like to achieve is meeting and becoming friends with American students. “This year I was thinking I was not culture shock, but again I had to go through the process and also I am alone here I don’t have any family," she says.
"Actually I have a host mother who helped me and with whom I live now, but international students are alone here when they don’t have their community then it is more difficult for them to deal with the culture shock,” she says.
“The question I am asking people around is how to make friends with American peers, with people from America who study with us. Sometimes what I see at the university is that there are multi-cultural clubs, but I am just afraid that it is only multi-cultural people that I see there. I would like more Americans to be involved with us and to be with us and I would like us to become friends.”
As for graduating from the University of Minnesota Duluth, Tamara says...”If everything is okay I should graduate in May 2009."
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Rahul Keerthi Gets an Education and Much More at Brown University
Profile of Rahul Keethi - Download mp3
Listen to Profile of Rahul Keethi
Profile of Rahul Keethi - Download Real Audio
Listen to Profile of Rahul Keethi
Twenty-three year old Rahul Keerthi attends Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. So what is it like there? Rahul says....” I say lively. I say active. I say challenging in the sense that it challenges the way I think because of all these thoughts I have around,” he says.
“It is also challenging in that it really pushes me, it is really frustrated me at times being here, but that is how I grow you know when you are challenged, when you are really pushed to your boundaries and you are really forced to sit down and question say ‘why am I doing this,’ or ‘what does this mean’ that is the kind of environment you want to be in and I just think that really what Brown is. It’s lively and it is such a warm place despite the weather here at times it is a very warm place,” he says. “I love about all things the people. The people that I have met here at Brown, they are just wonderful, wonderful people.”
The third year junior is majoring in Commerce, organizations and entrepreneurial ship (or COE), which is a relatively new track at Brown University. Rahul says his specific field is organizational behavior. Exactly what that entails, he tells us. “Organizational Behavior is interesting in that its kind of a business perspective, but because Brown is a liberal arts university and intends for all of its students all of us to have a very broad base understanding of all of our subjects, what COE does is that it gives us a view of organizations from all sort of perspectives,” he says. “
So I have taken courses not just in Sociology where I look at like groups in organizations or how managers and leaders run their organizations, but I have also taken courses in Engineering to understand how technology impacts companies or courses in Psychology and Economics to understand the basis of which firms make decisions and things like that,” he says. “So because of the nature of the university, COE is actually a unique program here and it is really enjoyable for me to take it because I don’t feel like I am being constrained to just one way of thinking about business.”
Rahul says hearing about Brown University and the open exchange of thoughts one can experience when receiving an education in the U.S., he says he looked forward to leaving home and coming here. “I was born in 1984 in Madras, India and I barely lived there actually, my family stayed there for about six months before we moved to Germany and then I lived there for about five years and then from there we moved on to Singapore where I lived ever since,” he says.
“So I was pretty much raised and brought up in Singapore. Educated there all my life and I am pretty much a Singaporean now and the reason why I came to the United States is actually I heard a lot about the universities here in the U-S and the nature of the curriculum and the nature of the education here that there is always an open exchange of ideas, or thoughts and that you have the best and the brightest minds that congregate here especially in the northeast where I am I have heard so many wonderful things about this place and I just had to experience it for myself,” he says. “So when the chance came up to apply to a university here I jumped at it.”
Attending Brown University has been very rewarding for Rahul and he says he is proud to be an international student on that campus. “I’m very proud that I bring an international perspective to the university. That I come here as an international student not just to take the education that the university provides, but also to give back and so I do feel like an international student and I do have that feeling because I am proud to be one and I want everyone to know that I am one,” he says. “That I come from Singapore and that I have grown up in these countries and I have experienced a few things and I can share it with them and I also want to learn where they are from and what they have to give to our society, to our community, to our university.”
Graduation is only two years away and Rahul wants to work in the consulting field. “I’m planning to graduate in two thousand and nine. I actually have no idea what I am going to do when in graduate, but I would love to start working for a company that really involves itself in business,” he says. “
So when I graduate I’m actually hoping to try my hand at consultancy because I feel like it is very interesting and a growing field. There’s so many different perspective that come out every year about how businesses should be run, how people should grow their businesses for the people who work for them and for the people that they serve and that is something that I want to commit and dedicate myself to.”
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Sixteen Prestigious U.S. Universities that Offer FREE Online Classes
Information technology has revolutionized how we find and share information. These progressive institutions have taken the first step by making their class free for anyone to use online:
1. Massachusetts Institute of Technology
2. New York University
3. Vanderbilt University
4. Stanford University
5. Yale University
6. University of Notre Dame
7. Carnegie Mellon University
8. Tufts University
9. University of Washington
10. University of California at Berkeley
11. Johns Hopkins University
12. Berklee College of Music
13. Gresham College
14. Open University
15. Utah Valley State College
16. Utah State University
1. Massachusetts Institute of Technology
2. New York University
3. Vanderbilt University
4. Stanford University
5. Yale University
6. University of Notre Dame
7. Carnegie Mellon University
8. Tufts University
9. University of Washington
10. University of California at Berkeley
11. Johns Hopkins University
12. Berklee College of Music
13. Gresham College
14. Open University
15. Utah Valley State College
16. Utah State University
Monday, February 2, 2009
Sharisma Sawyer Studies Communication and Fashion Design at Savannah State University
Profile of Sharisma Sawyer - Download mp3
Listen to Profile of Sharisma Sawyer
Profile of Sharisma Sawyer - Download Real Audio
Listen to Profile of Sharisma Sawyer
Sharisma SawyerAttending a historically black college or university and finding a university she could financially afford, Sharisma Sawyer chose Savannah State University in Savannah, Georgia. “First of all I wanted to originally attend a Historically Black College and University (HBCU) and I had a friend who attended the college and they told me that (Savannah State) they are really about diversity," she says.
"(And) after spending a year at the college they offer international students a wavier, that really helps out paying the tuition because we (international students) don’t get financial aid,” she says. “So most of us really aren’t wealthy so it really benefits us.”Sharisma Sawyer desires to become a film screenwriter and a fashion designer in life. The twenty-one year old college student says she wouldn't be able to study in this field if she went to college back home. “I’m from Nassau, Bahamas and I chose to come here for college because at home our main careers are mainly doctor, lawyer, teacher, police so the career choice I was interested in the college at home don’t offer those type of classes and also the career choice that I chose is I want to be a screenwriter and a fashion designer, but the thing is it is not widely known back at home.”Mass Communication is her major and Sharisma has chosen Art as her minor. Having flexibility to utilize all of her skills is important to her and just from the classes she already has taken in film; she realizes she can expand her skills in that area as well.
“I originally chose Mass Communications because I wanted to be a screenwriter, but after taking different classes in video editing and film directing and using the camera, I really expanded my whole career choice and more than being a screenwriter I think I want to be part of everything in a film industry,” she says. “I want to be a director, producer, a cameraman. So the classes have really expanded my knowledge in that area.”Also, I am an artist because my father is an Art teacher so I grew up drawing and painting and everything. When I was in eighth grade, I just started sketching clothing design and it has stuck with me up until now and the interest really grew,” she says. “So I really found an interest in fashion design and I think I can make a profitable career out of it. So I don’t want to be in one area. I want to expand and I want to do different stuff.”There are quite a few students from the Bahamas as well as other international students at Savannah State University. Sharisma says she likes the diversity there and how her professors interact with her. “I like it a lot because the school is really about diversity. My professors treat me like I am a regular American citizen and a lot of them do not know that I am from the Bahamas, so it has been really good to know that there is no discrimination and there is no second thought about grades or whatever, so I like my professors.”
Sharisma says being away from home has helped her to grow up and become dependent on herself which is important to her. Also, is receiving an education at Savannah State University.
“At home we have very few career choices and most of those careers do not entail going to college, so a lot of people at home really do not attend college,” she says. “A lot of people I graduated with they really are not interested in going to college because they figure that they found their way of living. They are working at food stores cashing and I don’t image myself doing that for the rest of my life. I really want to be an entrepreneur so I think an education is very important because with an education especially being an international student you really get far with it.”Receiving a scholarship to pursue her master's degree is what Sharisma hopes can become a reality if she continues to do well with her studies now. She says....”I will be graduating next December. When I graduate actually I want to complete my masters. I want to attend Savannah College of Art and Design and I want to do my masters in film and television and I also want to focus more on the fashion design.
Listen to Profile of Sharisma Sawyer
Profile of Sharisma Sawyer - Download Real Audio
Listen to Profile of Sharisma Sawyer
Sharisma SawyerAttending a historically black college or university and finding a university she could financially afford, Sharisma Sawyer chose Savannah State University in Savannah, Georgia. “First of all I wanted to originally attend a Historically Black College and University (HBCU) and I had a friend who attended the college and they told me that (Savannah State) they are really about diversity," she says.
"(And) after spending a year at the college they offer international students a wavier, that really helps out paying the tuition because we (international students) don’t get financial aid,” she says. “So most of us really aren’t wealthy so it really benefits us.”Sharisma Sawyer desires to become a film screenwriter and a fashion designer in life. The twenty-one year old college student says she wouldn't be able to study in this field if she went to college back home. “I’m from Nassau, Bahamas and I chose to come here for college because at home our main careers are mainly doctor, lawyer, teacher, police so the career choice I was interested in the college at home don’t offer those type of classes and also the career choice that I chose is I want to be a screenwriter and a fashion designer, but the thing is it is not widely known back at home.”Mass Communication is her major and Sharisma has chosen Art as her minor. Having flexibility to utilize all of her skills is important to her and just from the classes she already has taken in film; she realizes she can expand her skills in that area as well.
“I originally chose Mass Communications because I wanted to be a screenwriter, but after taking different classes in video editing and film directing and using the camera, I really expanded my whole career choice and more than being a screenwriter I think I want to be part of everything in a film industry,” she says. “I want to be a director, producer, a cameraman. So the classes have really expanded my knowledge in that area.”Also, I am an artist because my father is an Art teacher so I grew up drawing and painting and everything. When I was in eighth grade, I just started sketching clothing design and it has stuck with me up until now and the interest really grew,” she says. “So I really found an interest in fashion design and I think I can make a profitable career out of it. So I don’t want to be in one area. I want to expand and I want to do different stuff.”There are quite a few students from the Bahamas as well as other international students at Savannah State University. Sharisma says she likes the diversity there and how her professors interact with her. “I like it a lot because the school is really about diversity. My professors treat me like I am a regular American citizen and a lot of them do not know that I am from the Bahamas, so it has been really good to know that there is no discrimination and there is no second thought about grades or whatever, so I like my professors.”
Sharisma says being away from home has helped her to grow up and become dependent on herself which is important to her. Also, is receiving an education at Savannah State University.
“At home we have very few career choices and most of those careers do not entail going to college, so a lot of people at home really do not attend college,” she says. “A lot of people I graduated with they really are not interested in going to college because they figure that they found their way of living. They are working at food stores cashing and I don’t image myself doing that for the rest of my life. I really want to be an entrepreneur so I think an education is very important because with an education especially being an international student you really get far with it.”Receiving a scholarship to pursue her master's degree is what Sharisma hopes can become a reality if she continues to do well with her studies now. She says....”I will be graduating next December. When I graduate actually I want to complete my masters. I want to attend Savannah College of Art and Design and I want to do my masters in film and television and I also want to focus more on the fashion design.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)