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NYU Washington, DC, Program Director Kari Miller Leads Students on a Journey Through Time and Space

Posted on November 5, 2024 by Katie L

Kari Miller

When Kari Miller, program director for NYU Washington, DC, and affiliated faculty with NYU’s Department of Social and Cultural Analysis, sees the city, she finds a reservoir of public memory sites that speak to African American history and an unfinished story chronicling resilience over time. These observations are what she aims to share with NYU students from near and far in her class Black Lives Writing Washington, DC.

Each spring semester Miller begins the course with an exploration of the abolitionist movement. She then moves in chronological order through two other major movements in African American history: the Civil Rights Movement and Black Lives Matter.

“Through novels, poetry, visual arts, and in-person site visits to a variety of sites in Washington, DC, the course explores the connections between these three historical movements that have all been shaped by Washington, DC,” Miller says. “We explore the complexity of American and Washington, DC, history through the eyes of writers who, at some point in their lives, have called the city home.”

City Connections

To Miller, making real-world connections with topics discussed in the classroom is a vital part of learning—and of studying away at NYU Washington, DC. “We visit sites around the city in order to connect directly with historical neighborhoods and areas that relate back to the books that we read,” she explains.

After reading Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, the first site visit is the National Park Service site of the abolitionist’s home. They visit Georgetown University as they read Rachel Swarns’ The 272: The Families Who Were Enslaved to Build the American Catholic Church. They visit the city’s Shaw neighborhood, home to Howard University, when they read Ta-Nehisi Coates’ Between the World and Me. They even visit the mansions of Logan Circle, a few blocks from the site’s academic center after reading Dinaw Mengestu’s The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears, a novel that focuses on the Ethiopian-American community in Washington, DC.

“Excursions are very immersive, and student responses have been overwhelmingly positive,” Miller reflects. “Everyone especially enjoys our visit to the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial during the National Cherry Blossom Festival.”

: Students from Miller’s Black Lives Writing Washington, DC, course visit the National Museum of African American History and Culture

: Black Lives Writing Washington, DC, students visit the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial

A Work in Progress

The course site visits, readings, and assignments don’t just encourage students to reflect on the past, but they celebrate the present as well. “I enjoy using all of the city’s art galleries and museums to make connections to our work through the visual arts,” she explains. “There is always a nearby or local exhibit in Washington, DC, that our students are able to go to, not only to appreciate Harlem Renaissance artists, but to learn about expressions of contemporary artists who are creating great works of art today.” Regardless of where in space and time Miller leads her students, the continuing story of African Americans and their impact on our nation remains at the center.

“In comparison to other nations that are thousands of years old, the United States is relatively very, very young. It is truly a work in progress,” Miller adds. “Through the history shaped and created in Washington, DC, I hope our students take away inspiration, motivation, and the desire to continue to build a better world, based on what we’ve learned and what we know is possible through movements, people, and progress.”

Written by Sarah Bender

NYU London Opens New Academic Center

Posted on October 21, 2024 by Katie L

Front desk with computers, chairs, and a sign reading 265 Strand

Large room with couches, tables, and chairs

This fall NYU London moved to its new location at 265 Strand. About a mile southeast from its former location and a short distance from the Temple London Underground Station, the new center offers students studying away an experience unique from other sites in the NYU global network.

The Best Location in London

The new building, in the heart of central London, is “truly one of the best locations in London,” says Mojtaba Moatamedi, executive director of the site. “We’re about 10 minutes away from Downing Street and the Houses of Parliament and just down the street from the Royal Courts of Justice. It’s also a central location for music and the arts, with numerous theatres and art galleries within walking distance.”

Additionally, the new site shares a courtyard with the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), which offers NYU students ample opportunity to socialize with LSE students and students from other schools in the area, including King’s College London. “This should enhance the NYU student experience and offer them a real community of students studying in the UK,” says Moatamedi.

A Building Specially Suited for NYU London

Staff and faculty at NYU London worked closely with a team of architects to ensure the new center would meet student needs for space and technology. The spirit of NYU London’s previous intimate classrooms remains at the heart of the design, allowing students and faculty to build connections in small classes. However, doubling the building’s square footage means there is now room for much-needed community spaces. On-site student spaces include a cafeteria, student lounges, and an office space for the student affairs team. This means that student life is nested in the academic building, seamlessly integrating two aspects of the student experience. Moreover, 265 Strand contains larger lecture halls, allowing the site to invite renowned academics from across the United Kingdom for discussions and events.

Students Get Inspired at NYU Washington, DC

Posted on October 14, 2024 by Katie L

Learn from students who were transformed by their experience at NYU Washington, DC, as they share the inspiration they drew from their proximity to history in the nation’s capital as well as the opportunities they seized to get involved in real-time politics.

NYU Faculty Conduct Research in 107 Countries and Counting

Posted on September 23, 2024 by Katie L

At NYU, research thrives across 15 schools and campuses and dozens of centers and programs—in New York and around the world. In fact, University faculty conducted research in 107 countries, as well as in Greenland and Antarctica, during the 2023–2024 academic year alone. From sustainability to inequality and human health to artificial intelligence, research at NYU spans disciplines and crosses borders—and the University’s profile is rapidly rising. Today, NYU ranks 15th among all universities on the National Science Foundation’s annual Higher Education Research and Development survey, with the biggest year-over-year surge in rankings of any top 50 school (as measured by research expenditures).

“NYU’s ascent as a leading research university helps set the stage for President Mills’ visionary strategic pathways, which includes a focus on global science and technology that will enable NYU to continue to thrive and drive impact,” affirms Stacie Bloom, chief research officer, vice chancellor, and vice provost for global research and innovation. “By fostering interdisciplinary collaboration, expanding global education opportunities, and investing in innovative research, President Mills has positioned NYU to be at the forefront of academic excellence and discovery. This holistic approach not only enhances NYU’s research capabilities but also cultivates a diverse and inclusive academic community that reflects the University’s values.”

Here are just a few of the projects positioning NYU to lead the world in global education and research.

J. Lawrence Aber, the Willner Family Professor of Psychology and Public Policy at the Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development, and Hirokazu Yoshikawa, the Courtney Sale Ross Professor of Globalization and Education at NYU Steinhardt, co-led and co-found the Global TIES for Children Center at NYU, stewarding the center’s research for a decade. Their team conducts research in 14 conflict-affected countries, including Colombia, Peru, Lebanon, Jordan, Niger, and Bangladesh, to improve program and policy action that promotes children’s holistic learning and development. Effective this fall, Florencia Lopez Boo, has taken over duties as the director. Prior to her role at NYU, Lopez Boo spent 15 years evaluating, designing, and implementing early childhood development, social protection, and health programs with the Inter-American Development Bank.

Meredith Dank, a clinical associate professor and director of the Human Exploitation and Resilience program at the NYU Marron Institute of Urban Management, has led nearly two dozen human trafficking studies. Recently, she ran a randomized controlled trial in two regions of India to address the high risk of human trafficking among the country’s Denotified Tribes. The research aims to reduce trafficking by developing economic alternatives and new livelihoods for the tribal communities.

Donna Shelley conducts research on tobacco use treatment and tobacco control policies in public healthcare networks for underserved populations. The professor of public health policy and management, vice dean for research in the Department of Public Health Policy and Management, and founding codirector of the Global Center for Implementation Science at the NYU School of Global Public Health recently studied high smoking rates among people living with HIV/AIDS in Vietnam. Her research seeks to develop a scalable, culturally appropriate model for implementing evidence-based treatment for tobacco users in outpatient HIV clinics in Vietnam.

Joo H. Kim is an associate professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and affiliated faculty of NYU’s Center for Urban Science and Progress and the NYU-KAIST Global Innovation and Research Institute. In collaboration with Korea University, his research in South Korea uses advanced 3D fall-threshold algorithms and intelligent surrogate models to develop wearable robotic devices to prevent falls and enhance safety.

Written by Dana Guterman

KAIST Undergraduate Student Exchange Program Video

Posted on September 4, 2024 by Katie L

Learn about students’ experiences in the New York University and the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) Undergraduate Student Exchange Program.

NYU Students Selected as 2024–2025 Schwarzman Scholars

Posted on May 6, 2024 by Katie L

Five NYU students from all three degree-granting campuses were selected as 2024–2025 Schwarzman Scholars. The honor supports master’s degree study in global affairs at Schwarzman College within Tsinghua University in Beijing, China.

Bincheng Mao, a Liberal Studies senior at NYU; Valentin Josan, Sachintha Pilapitiya, and Addie Mae Villas, seniors at NYU Abu Dhabi; and Li Peirong, a senior at NYU Shanghai, were among the 150 scholars selected for the class that represents 43 countries and 114 universities around the world.

Bincheng will attend Harvard Law School after his time as a Schwarzman Scholar. He founded the East Coast Coalition for Tolerance and Non-Discrimination, a charity inducted into the World Economic Forum Global Shapers Community, which focuses on combating anti-Asian discrimination. He also interned at the United Nations Development Programme.

Valentin, the chief of staff of NYU Abu Dhabi’s student government, interned at the Brunswick Group and cofounded both the first set of licensed TEDx education conferences and Model United Nations conferences in Moldova, his home country.

Sachintha helped found Default LK, an organization creating civic economic awareness in his home country Sri Lanka. Sachintha also conducted research at the Institute of Policy Studies in Colombo, Sri Lanka, and the Library of Congress in Washington, DC.

Addie Mae served as the president of the Debate Union at NYU Abu Dhabi and cofounded the first-ever UAE Conference on Debate and Public Speaking for Women and Girls. While volunteering with Safe Passage 4 Ukraine, she has helped resettle over 800 Ukrainian refugees fleeing war.

Li served as both NYU Shanghai’s student body vice president and president. Throughout his college career, he worked with TEDxNYU Shanghai, the NYU Shanghai Office of Admissions, and the NYU Shanghai Center for Career Development to bolster communication and connection between university community members.

Congratulations to the scholars!

Repurposed with permission from NYU News

Global Programs Booklist

Posted on April 15, 2024 by Katie L

Inspired by the first NYU Bookstore display collaboration between the Office of Marketing Communications and the Office of Global Programs, this list of books representing NYU’s global locations promises to broaden your perspective and enrich your knowledge.

NYU Abu Dhabi

Temporary People
By Deepak Unnikrishnan

The skylines of Abu Dhabi and Dubai are recognizable around the world by their resplendent glittering towers—but how did they get there? Deepak Unnikrishnan, an Indian-born writer raised in the United Arab Emirates and associate arts professor of literature and creative writing at NYU Abu Dhabi, knows the answer: a foreign labor force was brought in to construct them. Using a series of clever and surreal linked stories, Unnikrishnan gives voice to a humanitarian crisis that doesn’t get the attention it deserves.

NYU Accra

The Hundred Wells of Salaga
By Ayesha Harruna Attah

Based on a true story, The Hundred Wells of Salaga tells the tale of two women from very different backgrounds whose lives converge in an unexpected way. It’s a novel that will entangle you emotionally, while offering you crucial insight into precolonial Ghana, particularly the slave trade and its impact on a people.

NYU Berlin

No Photos on the Dance Floor! Berlin 1989–Today
Edited by Heiko Hoffmann and Felix Hoffmann

History books offer what we think is a full story, but this photography book provides a peek into the city’s after-hours culture through the club scene that blossomed in 1989 after the fall of the Berlin Wall. It’s not only a delightful visual romp but also a history book in its own right, telling the story of a city in transformation, one party at a time.

NYU Buenos Aires

The Aleph and Other Stories
By Jorge Luis Borges

Jorge Luis Borges might seem like an obvious choice for Argentina—for a country that produced so many famous writers, he is arguably the most famous. Still, who can deny this selection? The brilliant, inventive tales of The Aleph and Other Stories will surprise and stimulate, and they are must-reads for diving into Argentine culture. Borges, after all, makes magic happen in the most unexpected ways.

NYU Florence

The Monster of Florence book cover featuring a close-up image of Giambologna's The Rape of the Sabine sculpture

The Monster of Florence: A True Story
By Douglas Preston and Mario Spezi

The Monster of Florence has developed a bit of a cult following in recent years, and for good reason—it’s a wild ride. American Douglas Preston moved to Florence with his family and quickly discovered that their olive grove was the site of one of Italy’s most infamous double murders. As he works with investigative journalist Mario Spezi, a Florentine, to get closer to the truth, things really begin to spiral. The Monster of Florence is a propulsive thriller that offers valuable, and often shocking, insight into the Italian justice system.

NYU London

White Teeth
By Zadie Smith

White Teeth is a rare novel that is entertaining while simultaneously layered with so much richness, one might want to read it all over again as soon as it’s over. Starting with two unlikely friends whose stories blossom into a poignant yet funny family saga, Zadie Smith’s debut novel keenly witnesses the immigrant experience in London, traveling to other continents as well while navigating the relationship between tradition and change.

NYU Los Angeles

Slow Days, Fast Company book cover featuring a distorted image of a woman

Slow Days, Fast Company: The World, the Flesh, and L.A.
By Eve Babitz

This slim book offers stories as wild and wanton as Los Angeles itself. Unapologetically hedonistic, Slow Days, Fast Company is also a clever, windy ride through the Los Angeles of the 1960s and 1970s. It has all the usual Angeleno archetypes, but Eve Babitz elevates them with her incisive and acerbic insights into life in Hollywood. Isn’t it funny that, decades later, so much has changed but so much remains the same?

NYU Madrid

Ghosts of Spain book cover featuring images of Spain

Ghosts of Spain: Travels Through Spain and Its Silent Past
By Giles Tremlett

Worth a read to understand a post-Franco Spain, Ghosts of Spain is a well-rounded, curious, and admittedly fun romp through the country, albeit prompted by the author’s questions about its devastating civil war. British author Giles Tremlett combines keen cultural reporting with memoir and quirky sidebars that add levity to what begins as a serious interrogation. While it’s intellectually critical, it’s also a love letter to Spain. After all, there’s a reason Spain is Tremlett’s adopted country.

NYU Paris

The Years book cover featuring an image of a woman looking at the viewer with the silhouette of a person looking down a hallway

The Years
By Annie Ernaux

Annie Ernaux’s whole oeuvre is masterful, but many critics cite The Years, first published in 2008, as her magnum opus. In this brilliant collage of a memoir, Nobel Prize winner Ernaux examines her life and the generation that she grew up in, favoring “we” over “I.” The result is a personal history tied to the collective experience of a generation in France during the 20th century. Ernaux weaves her memories into a story that offers cultural notes on topics from consumerism and immigration to unemployment and the threat of nuclear war.

NYU Prague

Havel: A Life book cover featuring an image of Václev Havel with his hand atop his head

Havel: A Life
By Michael Žantovský

In many ways, Václav Havel’s life mirrors the zeitgeist of Prague: it’s political, literary, antiauthoritarian, surreal, and somehow, even at its most serious moments, darkly humorous. If that sounds like a lot, it’s because Havel, like the city itself, was a complex figure. Michael Žantovský was a trusted friend, so this biography reads as an intimate and true portrait (faults and all) of a man loyal to his people, his values, and his art. Žantovský succeeds in showing the many dimensions of the iconoclast—playwright, political dissident, prisoner, president—who, in the end, was just as human as the rest of us.

NYU Shanghai

Shanghai Future: Modernity Remade
By Anna Greenspan

This brilliant book contextualizes China’s largest and most cosmopolitan city through the lens of modernity. Author Anna Greenspan, an associate professor of contemporary global media at NYU Shanghai, reexamines the changing landscape of the city as it steps well into the 21st century and takes its place on the world stage.

NYU Sydney

Mirror Sydney: An Atlas of Reflections
By Vanessa Berry

A fun and unexpected romp, Mirror Sydney takes us on a tour of the harborside city via engaging essays and clever hand-illustrated maps. Based on a blog Vanessa Berry started more than a decade ago, Mirror Sydney is clearly more than a mere guidebook—it’s too much fun to be that typical. Moreover, it tends to direct the reader to the kinds of places the average tourist wouldn’t care to know about or explore anyway.

NYU Tel Aviv

The Bibliomaniacs: Tales from a Tel Aviv Bookseller
By J.C. Halper

On Allenby Street in Tel Aviv, J.C. Halper—originally from New Jersey but now an Israeli for four-plus decades—runs the city’s most popular secondhand bookshop, containing a dazzling 60,000 books. And in 2022 he published this book of clever, often funny short stories from the point of view of a shop owner. While the stories are allegedly fiction, one can’t help but wonder if we’re learning more about real locals than the author lets on.

NYU Washington, DC

Lost in the City
By Edward P. Jones

It’s a joy to read anything by Edward P. Jones, the gifted, Pulitzer Prize–winning writer. His debut collection of short stories, Lost in the City, is no exception and first cemented his literary reputation. These 14 tales tell the everyday encounters and struggles of Black citizens in Washington, DC. But Jones has a gift for making even the most mundane situation meaningful, and his rich, textured stories give weight to life’s most quotidian moments as viewed through the lens of the Black experience in the nation’s capital.

Written by Marti Trgovich

NYU Paris Staff Spotlight: Martina Faltova

Posted on March 26, 2024 by Katie L

Martina Faltova in a coat and hat stands in front of a flower stand

Martina Faltova at Paris’ Bastille Market

In 2001 Martina Faltova was a study abroad student in Cambridge, England, when a chance encounter with an NYU professor led her to becoming his family’s au pair in New York City. Since her visa required a language course, she enrolled in Intermediate French at NYU. She loved the University so much that, when she returned home to the Czech Republic, she applied to work at NYU Prague. Now, more than 20 years later, she’s the assistant director for student life at NYU Paris.

Your job starts before students even arrive: organizing events, arranging housing, and prioritizing everyone’s safety and wellness. What inspired you to work with study away students?
I was a guest in another culture, and when I was leaving New York City, the family I lived with told me there was an NYU site in Prague and I should apply to it. And I loved that because I just came out of New York, I knew who the students were, and I felt like I could give back. Also, I love traveling, languages, meeting new people, and helping people learn more about Czech culture.

What role does language have in a student’s success at NYU Paris and NYU Prague?
In Paris the language course is required, so everyone has to take French. And it really makes your life easier. It’s a wonderful feeling when you can communicate, and it’s a really big sense of accomplishment. In Prague, though language courses are not required, learning Czech helps you make connections with the local people and understand the culture better too. Other language courses are offered at NYU Prague as well.

What are additional ways students can connect to local communities?
In Paris students can take courses at partner universities and hold internships. I also see students who choose to stay in a homestay, where they meet local families and become more connected to the place. In Prague I saw a lot of connections for the music students because they were performing in local places like pubs and would practice at other schools around Prague.

An NYU Paris student interning at a nonprofit organization

What attracts students to each site?
In Prague there’s centuries and centuries of history around you. It’s also very affordable. You really can do anything: easily buy tickets to the opera, go to nice restaurants, or live on a budget. In Paris the arts scene is incredible for anyone taking art or film courses. Here, students leave the classroom and see the paintings they discussed, and they wander the streets featured in famous movies.

You mentioned that NYU Paris is also branching out from the arts.
NYU Paris has changed a lot in the past six years. When I arrived, the majority of our courses were in the humanities. Now we have more and more science, technology, engineering, and mathematics courses. So we see a lot of students studying computer science and mathematics.

Which initiative are you most proud of?
At the beginning of the semester, we bring in people from local communities like nongovernmental and volunteer organizations and promote our cultural activities and trips. We invite all of our student and club leaders to promote their work. Students just mingle and learn about these opportunities, then they sign up for clubs. They talk to organizations about volunteering and helping. I just love that day.

Written by Marti Trgovich

The Rise of Experimental Circus in Prague: Artistic Research over Entertainment

Posted on February 26, 2024 by Katie L

It’s early evening and the National Theatre: The New Stage in Prague is sold out for the premiere show of Krajina těla or Land of Body. Sounds of waves crashing and a cello fill the hall as aerial acrobat Alžbeta Tichá climbs up a dangling rope, twisting, flipping, and falling dangerously fast before pulling the rope taut. While she moves through her choreography, eight LED screens placed around the stage show close-up images of hair follicles.

This is circus. Or, a kind of circus. With its understated exploration of physicality—a visual poem through movement—Krajina těla is an example of the experimental circus style emerging in the Czech Republic. Decidedly different from the theatrical and showy version of modern circus that Czech companies have mastered, the change comes as a new generation of performers enters the field, bringing with them new techniques and concepts.

Alžbeta Tichá, in motion midair supported by a rope held by another performer

Alžbeta Tichá on the rope in “Krajina těla”
Photo courtesy of Vojtěch Brtnický, Narodni divadlo

Czech contemporary circus was created right after the fall of communism in 1989. “Metaphorical, symbolic—the circus as a physical form was there as a metaphor for something else. Like you are on the trapeze, so you are representing a bird, for example,” says Veronika Štefanová, research supervisor of CIRQUEON, a Prague-based circus center. Theatre folk were inspired by touring European circus companies, but, without formal training to make stand-alone circus shows, they began incorporating these elements into their theatre productions.

The style’s popularity exploded in 2004 with the annual summer festival, Letní Letná, started by Jiří Turek, who has a background in dancing, miming, and alternative theatre. When he first hosted the festival in Prague, there were 6,000 attendees. Now it attracts 60,000 people, making it the biggest contemporary circus festival in the Czech Republic. “We invite the biggest companies,” Turek says of his festival direction. “We must do it. The smaller festivals cannot invite them; it is too expensive.” The necessity of featuring large companies has developed a large, unvarying style of circus—commercial and theatrical.

Cirk La Putyka is a case in point. It is the latest company in Prague, currently performing Cesty, which features more than 50 performers in a classic circus top. The acrobats, dancers, and actors wear flashy costumes while thunderous sound effects accentuate the stunts. In one act nine women flip around Hula-Hoops spinning high in the air. In another, a man walks amid the audience seats and breathes out orange flames. These moments are interspersed with storytelling and dialogue. The show is a glamorous spectacle.

A performer seated with legs crossed in an aerial hoop suspended from a light rack

Cirk La Putyka performers in “Cesty”
Photo courtesy: Cirk La Putyka

This “wow” factor is necessary, explains researcher Štefanová. “They would like to really live on circus and work only in circus, and it means you have to sell a lot of tickets.” Cirk La Putyka and other large companies have successfully done so, regularly selling out shows. In recent years the experimental shows have gained popularity with new techniques by younger artists. The kids, who 10 years ago signed up for informal circus classes at CIRQUEON, are of a professional age now. Tichá, the rope acrobat in Krajina těla, performs in several avant-garde shows. Along with Krajina těla, she is part of Thin Skin, a production staged in the DOX Centre for Contemporary Art.

Tichá emphasizes that she is not so much entertaining an audience as pushing the limits of her art, conducting a kind of research while onstage. “When I go on the rope, I have to be present. There is no chance to think about anything else.”

Repurposed and edited with permission by Dispatches

Service and Immersive Education in Calais

Posted on January 29, 2024 by Katie L

NYU London and NYU Paris students recently had the opportunity to go on a volunteer trip to the French port city of Calais. Situated on the Strait of Dover, the narrowest part of the English Channel, Calais is an important transfer point for people who are seeking asylum en route to the United Kingdom. The group of about 40 students supported Care4Calais, a nongovernmental organization that provides refugees with food, clothing, shelter, health care, and legal resources. Students helped out with various tasks, like sorting donations of clothing, food, and toiletries and cooking meals for volunteers. They also toured the Calais Lighthouse and WWII Museum and tasted local cuisine at Au Côté d’Argent.

People inspect tarps and tents in a large room

Care4Calais volunteers inspect donations

A Deeper Understanding of the European Refugee Crisis

For Margi DiPietro, a junior Global Liberal Studies major on the prehealth track who studied away at NYU Paris, traveling to Calais was an ideal opportunity to learn in real time the challenges asylum seekers and French citizens encounter. Moreover, she perceived an opportunity to build relevant experiences toward her goal of becoming a doctor for Médecins Sans Frontières. Prior to the trip, Margi gained insight into relevant issues in the course France and Islam. “We learned about the Calais Jungle and analyzed information about immigration in France and the French responses to the refugee crisis,” she says. “I had not realized that there are camps of this scale in Calais, or that refugees are trying to cross the English Channel on boats like you see in the Mediterranean.”

Unforgettable Personal Connections

Kaila Jones, a junior Theatre major studying away at NYU Paris, also joined the trip. Kaila has been volunteering since childhood and describes how taking part in service opportunities while studying away was a chance to find common ground with people who use different languages and come from diverse backgrounds. Care4Calais changed Kaila’s perspective on refugees. “I had some prior expectations and assumptions about what these people would be like,” Kaila admits. “I was surprised to see so many smiling faces, and how people who had so little were willing to give and share with me. Despite everything they were dealing with, they still made room for fun, laughter, and happiness. Seeing that firsthand hit my heart in ways I will never forget.”

The Importance of Education Outside the Classroom

A Care4Calais volunteer unloads a donation box

Ahmed Nasri, communications and student engagement coordinator at NYU Paris and one of the trip’s organizers, emphasizes the importance of taking advantage of cultural immersion opportunities while studying away. “The trip offered a transformational shift in perspective that enriched students’ academic journeys, since their theoretical knowledge was grounded in a real world context.” He explains further: “There is a significant difference between learning about a subject theoretically and experiencing it firsthand. This trip to Calais aimed to bridge that gap. While we can absorb information about the refugee crisis and immigration challenge from books and lectures, witnessing it in person amplifies students’ understanding.”

Written by Auzelle Epeneter

Global Dimensions