When islands become classrooms – SJMC takes students to the Galapagos

Marisol Medina / Contributing writer

A four hour plane to Quito, followed by a second shorter flight, a ferry and two buses to Santa Cruz Island. This is the journey some students will take to go to class in December.

The destination? The Galapagos Islands, an archipelago located 500 miles off the coast of Ecuador. The class? Environmental Communication.

Environmental Communication in the Galapagos is hosted by the School of Journalism and Mass Communication from Dec. 10 to Dec. 23. Seven students may enroll in a three-credit course over the winter mini term, living and studying in the islands. The program has only been done once before, in 2009.

Juliet Pinto, assistant professor in the SJMC, is organizing the study abroad program and will teach the class.

“We’re very excited to be offering the program again. It was a tremendous experience the first time, and it’s going to be even better the second time around,” said Pinto.

Pinto feels that the program is different because it allows students to stay in a town in the Galapagos, interacting with the locals and seeing their way of life, which is something most tourists never experience.

The goal of the program is for students to get an appreciation about what is it to cover environmental issues and all of what that entails.

“It is a course designed to teach students to better understand journalism in terms of environmental issues,” Pinto said.

Students will spend most of their time in Isabela Island, the largest island in the archipelago and the least populated. The students will stay in family-style homes and can go out for a night in the town once the course activities are over.

Every day will have a scheduled activity and lectures enhanced by excursions, snorkeling, volcano hikes, trekking in wetlands and visiting the Charles Darwin Foundation.

The classes will cover writing and reporting skills, with a focus on reporting on issues like resource management, sustainability and conservation.

“I would love to go the Galapagos, Darwin went there. They have all sorts of animals and I would love to see that,” says Oscar Baldizon, a junior journalism major.

Baldizon thinks it would be useful to take a class in environmental communication because a journalist needs to be able to inform about all areas of life.

“I’m very green and I care about the earth, so I could see myself reporting about these issues,” he said.

Katherine Lepri, a junior majoring in journalism, is one of the students that will spend her winter break in the Galapagos.

“The Galapagos have a lot to offer, with its preserves and the animals that aren’t hunted.” she said. “I’ve never been in a place like that.”

Lepri did extensive research before she chose the study abroad program. She thinks the Galapagos will offer something extraordinary.

“The fact that there is even an opportunity like this was a red flag for me because I just needed to take advantage of this opportunity,” she said.

Lepri hopes to be able to get hands-on experience on environmental issues and especially about how to report them.

“I would like to come back with the ability to report on extremely complex issues in a compelling, fun article that people actually want to read.”