Service Meets Adventure
This summer, a collection of UW-Madison organizations intend to take learning beyond the classroom by offering tours that take travel beyond sightseeing. The program — Service and Learning Adventures (SALA) — aims to combine alumni travel with cultural education and public service.
SALA formed out of a partnership among several UW-Madison organizations, including WAA, University Communications, the Division of Continuing Studies, the Wisconsin Union, and the Morgridge Center for Public Service. The program's mission is to offer alumni and a select group of students the opportunity to perform community-building service while experiencing a different culture. In the summer of 2002, there will be two SALA trips — one to Glencree, Ireland, and the other to the Blackfeet Indian Reservation in Browning, Montana.
"The volunteer spirit is particularly strong among UW-Madison graduates," says Jeff Wendorf '82, WAA's vice president of programs and outreach. "We wanted to help those alumni not just to see the world, but to have a role in shaping it."
SALA formed out of a partnership among several UW-Madison organizations, including WAA, University Communications, the Division of Continuing Studies, the Wisconsin Union, and the Morgridge Center for Public Service. The program's mission is to offer alumni and a select group of students the opportunity to perform community-building service while experiencing a different culture. In the summer of 2002, there will be two SALA trips — one to Glencree, Ireland, and the other to the Blackfeet Indian Reservation in Browning, Montana.
"The volunteer spirit is particularly strong among UW-Madison graduates," says Jeff Wendorf '82, WAA's vice president of programs and outreach. "We wanted to help those alumni not just to see the world, but to have a role in shaping it."
The Ireland trip, scheduled for June, will take volunteers to the Glencree Center for Reconciliation, which seeks to bring together opposing parties in the conflict in Northern Ireland. The SALA trip to Montana, at the end of July, will expose travelers to some of the centuries-old traditions of the Blackfeet. On each tour, travelers will perform maintenance and construction work while observing the daily life of the community they're visiting. Both tours will include a member of UW-Madison's faculty, who will recommend readings to enhance the travelers' educational experience.
"What makes this program unique to UW-Madison is that it brings alumni who have the freedom to travel together with younger people in the student body," says Patrick Strickler, director of University Communications. "I think both groups can benefit by such exposure. I can't think of another university that has a travel program like this."
"What makes this program unique to UW-Madison is that it brings alumni who have the freedom to travel together with younger people in the student body," says Patrick Strickler, director of University Communications. "I think both groups can benefit by such exposure. I can't think of another university that has a travel program like this."
