Bridging Cultures program seeks 2016 applicants
Keith Whittemore
Mesa Legend
The MCC multicultural department’s Bridging Cultures program is now accepting applications for their 2016 trip.The program, which is in its third year, seeks to connect MCC students with the history and cultures of the American Southwest. The trip lasts four days, during which students and faculty visit important cultural and historical areas across Arizona and southern California, including a Japanese internment camp in state and Chicano Park in San Diego. Robert Soza, an English professor at MCC, helped found the program after noticing a lack of connection between students’ everyday experiences and a previous field trip program centered around the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles.
“What struck me was that we were taking students, many of whom were born and raised in the Southwest, to a museum that dealt with something in Europe,” Soza said. “Granted, the Holocaust was an important historical event, but it’s something that’s relatively remote, and it doesn’t necessarily connect with young people who were born and raised here in the Southwest.” The resulting program focuses on tying modern problems like racism, economic inequality, and immigration issues to the historical struggles of various people groups in the region. The program only accepts 50 students, and only those who complete an application can be considered. Even with such a small group, Soza noted the diversity of participants’ backgrounds.
“We draw students from all of the student clubs, primarily. We draw students from APIC, from ISO, from MeChA, from the Social Justice Club, from PTK — you name it, students have participated,” he said. “Anyone from campus can apply, so we have people with multiple perspectives, and that’s what I’m most impressed about.” The goal, Soza said, is to force students to leave their comfort zones and to ask themselves difficult questions about themselves and others. “Some of the students who have come back have called the trip ‘transformational,’ ‘life-changing,’” he said. “The conversations they have in the groups are eye-opening, game-changing.” “It’s very organic,” he added.
In addition to teaching students to acknowledge and appreciate other cultures, Soza also hopes the program can foster a kind of community among students. “We’re on a commuter campus — you can come, park, go to class, leave, and basically never develop any kind of social relationships at the college,” he said. “We’re putting 50 students on a bus, together, for like four days, so relationships are built.” Applications for Bridging Cultures will be accepted through Feb. 5. For more information on how to apply, contact the multicultural department, or visit https://www.mesacc.edu/students/multicultural
