From the President

GREETINGS FROM HUMBOLDT!

It’s an exciting time to be a Lumberjack! As we grow into our new polytechnic designation, we continue to be amazed and inspired by what our alumni are accomplishing in the world.

Generations of Humboldt students, faculty, and staff created the foundation for everything we do today.

We’re increasingly having campus discussions about how we can create a model global community. While the details are still forming, this has to do with preparing students to thrive in an interconnected world. It also involves ensuring that everyone feels welcome to engage with us, that we embrace new and innovative ideas, and that we are willing to try new approaches that others can then build upon. I think of it as Cal Poly Humboldt becoming its very best self.

One area where we’ve made great strides recently is with the International Service Learning program, which is featured in this magazine. At its most basic, we’re expanding on the widely shared experience of many Humboldt alumni, who gained hands-on experiences through community service. We’re just doing so in an international setting.

International programs are widely recognized for allowing students to fully immerse in new cultures and collaborate on real-world issues like sustainability.

However, a full semester abroad isn’t practical or affordable for many students. So our new International Service Learning program, which launched in Cebu City, Philippines, features a different approach that we plan to replicate at other locations. Under this model, students spend months in class preparing and learning about the location they will be visiting and serving. Then they travel to that location as a group for one week filled with activities, service, and visits to cultural sites. For most students, it is their first time outside the United States, and it can be an eye-opening and even life-changing experience.

In Cebu City, Humboldt students engaged with more than 200 11th- and 12th-graders at Sudlon National High School. The students all shared their cultures with one another. Each Humboldt student facilitated an academic workshop.

An important factor was sharing ideas and learning from one another, and that’s the inherent power of an inter- national education—engaging with others, learning to adapt to unfamiliar situations, sharp- ening problem-solving skills, and challenging assumptions. In an international learning experience, students learn that most people share a desire for better lives for themselves and others, and to protect the planet we inhabit.

Today’s Humboldt students are inspired to create a more sustainable and just world, and we’re working to provide them the education and tools to do just that. Our alumni are paving the way by modeling global citizenship in their own communities and careers.

Be kind.