A photographic journal of service by Utah State University and USU Eastern students for people in impoverished Honduran communities is featured in Eastern’s Gallery East until March 3. It is titled, “Voz de Foto: From the Heart of Honduras to You.” The gallery is in the Central Instructional Building.
Billed as “A Photo Voice Report from a USU Eastern Study Abroad Experience,” the exhibit features photographs and texts documenting the study abroad experience of several USU Eastern students who visited Honduras in May 2016.
According to USU Eastern Vice Chancellor Gary Straquadine, the faculty advisor who organized the trip, “They worked with agriculture and food systems, community health and the development of vocational education.”
Working alongside student participants from the USU Logan campus and Ag Education students from Ohio State University, USUE students witnessed the positive effects of their vocational and agricultural education when applied directly to indigent communities.
“Engaged in serving rural communities, students share their transformational learning with photos and rich narratives. Contemporary issues of health care, access to clean water, sanitation, food production, and improved agricultural methods in Central America comes to USU Eastern through the camera lens and words of student travelers,” Straquadine said.
USUE student Cameron West said, “We spent the majority of our time serving with the people. We would go to the villages, and we would cook traditional Honduran food with the villagers. We would then go to the local schools and feed the kids. Whenever we served, we did it with them.”
As described by West, “Our focus was sustainability. We didn’t just give and go,” he remarked. “We set up projects and curriculum that the local Hondurans could continue to do without our being there. We spent lots of time with kids and families in both schools and communities. We toured a sugar cane plantation where we learned how sugar is planted, grown, harvested, processed and shipped.”
Sponsored by USU’s College of Agriculture and Applied Sciences, the Honduran Study Abroad program is an annual opportunity for interested students. Students should contact Straquadine for information by calling 435-613-5294 or emailing at gary.straquadine@usu.edu.
The Honduras Study Abroad blog site is accessible at: https://studyabroadhonduras2016.wordpress.com/
Gallery East is free and open to the public during the academic year from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. It is closed weekends and holidays. The closing reception is Friday, March 3 from 6-8 p.m.
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