Twelve undergraduate students, one graduate teaching assistant and one professor will be traveling over 8,000 miles to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam for Cal State Fullerton’s first international field trip.
Communications professor and member of the Asian American Studies Program Council Jeffery Brody has teamed up with Project Vietnam to expose broadcast and print journalism majors to an international setting and give them the chance to be foreign correspondents.
“I thought it would be an excellent program, considering I have researched Vietnamese Americans and Vietnam, to take a group of journalism students there so they can participate in the program and write stories about the program as well as feature stories about Vietnam,” Brody said.
Project Vietnam has aided needy regions since 1996, aiming to improve healthcare assistance and services, as well as provide medical training for professionals. The 14 travelers will participate in providing medical aid to the rural poor and will document their experiences on their Web site, vietnam.dailytitan.com.
Students were picked for the trip based on their print, broadcast and multimedia abilities as well as recommendations from other journalism faculty.
“Vietnam is so different from the U.S. and I am looking forward to being able to immerse myself in a culture that is so drastically different from my own,” said senior broadcast journalism major Anna Gleason.
The majority of time spent will be at the Mekong Delta in Ben Tre where students will be visiting rural villages, orphanages, schools and dental and surgical clinics, as well building a home for a homeless person.
“While in Vietnam, we’ll be putting together videos for the Daily Titan as well as working with the different groups associated with Project Vietnam that will be setting up for either the dental, surgical or medical teams, helping them with taking vital signs such as blood pressure and pulse and any other little tasks they need done while we are there,” Gleason said.
The students’ articles, pictures, blogs and videos will be updated regularly on the Vietnam Web site.
“I hope to gain some great photos for my portfolio,” said senior photo journalism student Andrea Kellogg. “I’m excited to really put what I have learned in school to the test and challenge myself.”
Brody’s 20-year relationship with pediatrician Dr. Quynh Kieu, the dynamic force behind the missions, led to Brody’s interest in the nine-day field trip. To make the opportunity feasible, Project Vietnam gave the students a break on the room and board package. Brody also obtained subsidized funding from the Instructionally Related Activities (IRA) committee, which sponsors overseas trips.
“There are a lot of opportunities because they’re going to see this country with fresh eyes. I told the students to jump in and do as much work as possible, far and beyond what they would normally do in a school week. They need to shine and excel, and work on their portfolio and show prospective employers that they can handle themselves in a foreign country,” Brody said.
This will be Brody’s fourth time to Vietnam. He would like to return to Vietnam with students next year if funding allows.
Brody expressed that he hopes the students will learn a great deal from their experience.
“I hope they will learn what it takes to be a foreign correspondent in a developing country, establish some empathy for the people who are living there and experience a journalistic adventure and come back with very touching stories,” he said.
Source: Daily Titan