A group of Kent State University students was all smiles on July 1 as they prepared to depart on a 7,000+-mile trip to Kigali, Rwanda, where they will take part in the three-week Kigali Summer Institute.
The education-abroad experience was created by Sarah Schmidt, Ph.D., an instructor in the School of Peace and Conflict Studies and assistant director for global education initiatives at Kent State Stark. The program includes the course, Rwanda After the Genocide Against the Tutsi, which focuses on the 1994 genocide in which nearly 1 million Rwandans were killed and how the country has rebuilt itself and promoted reconciliation in the 29 years since then.
This is the third cohort of students to take part in the course, which is expected to expand in future years to include students from the University of Rwanda.
While in Kigali, the students and Schmidt will take part in Peace Education in an Era of Crisis, a global peace conference being sponsored by the School of Peace and Conflict Studies, as well as Kent State's Read Center for International and Intercultural Education, the University of Rwanda and the Aegis Trust, non-profit agency.
Read more about Kent State's expanding involvement in Rwanda.
Photos courtesy Sarah Schmidt.