TERRE HAUTE —
In July, Ivy Tech student Genie Hemmrich will spend the month in Prague, Czech Republic, as part of a global leadership program.
The 41-year-old wife and mother of two sons is the first student sponsored by Ivy Tech Community College-Wabash Valley to participate.
She will join 40 other college students from around the world to attend the program, which includes university courses, cultural activities and community service.
The goals are to strengthen leadership skills, learn more about diverse cultures and think critically about issues of global importance.
Participants also will learn how to create and carry out a community service project in their home community.
“I am so excited,” Hemmrich said in an interview last week. “I can’t describe how blessed and fortunate I feel to be able to do this.”
She is completing an associate degree in elementary education and plans to pursue her bachelor’s through St. Mary-of-the-Woods College. She eventually would like to be an elementary principal and believes her international experience fits in well with her future goals.
Hemmrich’s upcoming overseas experience fits in with the statewide college’s goal of “ensuring that Indiana citizens, workforce, and businesses are globally competitive.”
Increasingly, the statewide college wants its students and faculty to gain more of an international perspective — and that’s also a priority at Ivy Tech-Wabash Valley.
“It’s all a very small world these days,” said Chancellor Ann Valentine, who traveled to India, China, Korea and Thailand before coming to Terre Haute.
Some of Terre Haute’s industries are part of international companies, and those industry leaders “are concerned about cultural and global competencies,” she said.
Having some understanding of business practices and cultural values in other countries, and developing interpersonal relationships there, “is critically important to being successful in an international business setting,” Valentine said. “It is increasingly important to our economic success in this state.”
It also will help make the Wabash Valley more competitive in its economic development efforts, she said.
As a result, Ivy Tech is looking at other international initiatives that involve leadership programs, faculty and student exchanges and student travel abroad opportunities.
In Hemmrich’s case, the Ivy Tech Foundation will fund much of her expenses, although she must pay part of the initial expense.
When she returns, Ivy Tech will employ her to educate students, faculty and staff about her experience, and she’ll be involved in other related efforts. This will help her fund her portion of the trip.
“I’m so happy to represent Ivy Tech and my community,” said Hemmrich, who is the Ivy Tech-Wabash Valley Student Government Association president. “I’m excited about what I’m going to learn over there, and who knows what’s going to happen.”
Hemmrich’s been heavily involved in community service projects and while in Prague, she hopes to develop and bring back a project she can implement here. “I’ve got a few things kind of swirling,” she said. There may be funding opportunities as well.
She wants to make a difference.
A mission trip to inner city Los Angeles in 2006 “changed my life,” Hemmrich said. She worked with AIDS patients, prostitutes and drug addicts. “I saw a sea of humanity I’ve never seen in my entire life,” she said.
She came home with resolve to pursue a college degree. “It caused me to really dig deep and rediscover what it was that I really felt like I was meant to do,” Hemmrich said.
Ivy Tech-Wabash Valley is partnering with Global Leaders out of Bloomington to offer international leadership opportunities for faculty and students. Hemmrich is the region’s first sponsored student.
Sue Loughlin can be reached at (812) 231-4235 or sue.loughlin@tribstar.com.
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Ivy Tech student prepared to make global impact
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