Study Abroad and Global Experiences

Service Learning (SLS 2940)
1 credit hour

•  March 14 - 22, 2025

Before reviewing this page or applying to this program, read the entire COVID-19 Statement.  If you have questions, please contact SAGE.  All information is subject to change.  Prices are an estimate only until flights are booked and could fluctuate.

Program Overview

Holistic Community Wellness: How do you create and sustain healthy, vibrant communities that prepare their citizens for the future while preserving, enriching, and celebrating their history and culture? This program will encourage students to explore the answer to this important question through the lens of holistic community wellness. We will focus on the pillars of housing, education, jobs, health, and safety. 

Locally, students will explore the rich heritage of the Historic Parramore community within the context of the ever-changing landscape of Downtown Orlando. What is the heritage of the peoples and places rooted in Historic Parramore neighborhoods? What challenges do they face as the environment in which they exist continues to experience development and change? How do we listen with compassion and understanding to the community voice? How can we positively and responsibly contribute to revitalization and the improvement of community health? A visit to the Wells’Built Museum and authentic engagement with community partners will help us to explore these topics.

To further broaden perspective, students will travel to the tri-island state of Grenada, Carriacou, and Petite Martinique in the Caribbean. We will learn about their unique efforts to sustain their way of life in the face of economic and environmental challenges and political changes. On mainland Grenada, we will survey and observe sites such as the Victoria Nutmeg Museum, Grand Etang Lake & Rainforest, Annandale Falls, and St. George’s University Medical School. In Carriacou, we will experience the unique culture and traditions of the ancestors like ‘Big Drum’ dancing. We will visit the Carriacou Museum with historical artifacts from native inhabitants the Cibony, Arawaks, and Carib Indians. We will visit a desalination plant, High North the island’s highest peak, mangroves, and beach turtles. A stone’s throw across from Carriacou is Petite Martinique. We will view a hidden gem of the island, Darant Bay Cave. Mindful of our own footprint, we will do beach cleanups as we swim in the beautiful blue waters of Grenada’s Grand Anse beach and Paradise Beach on Carriacou.  

You will complete 20 hours of service in this course. May this experience help you to cultivate compassion, shared understanding, and a deepened awareness of what communities need not just to survive but to thrive! May you be inspired to become an advocate for holistic community wellness and be determined to contribute in responsible, positive ways to the vitality of our local and global communities.