There, they held a series of workshops for more than 200 11th and 12th graders at Sudlon National High School as part of Humboldt’s newest International Service Learning Program. The program was added as a way to extend the University's service learning opportunities abroad. Additional international Service Learning experiences are available in countries including Mexico and Spain.
Service learning programs allow students to gain course credit and use skills learned in their coursework to help address community needs. While there are eight core elements that define these opportunities, reciprocity is at the heart of it. Both students and community members find value in these experiences and grow from them.
Each Humboldt student facilitated one cultural exchange and one academic workshop, channeling their passions to create engaging experiences for Sudlon students.
Cultural exchange workshops focused on similarities between American and Filipino culture, says Matthew Dean, World Languages & Cultures program leader. Topics included sustainability, cuisine, and climate change. The academic and professional growth seminars focused on photography, emotional wellness, public speaking through poetry, art, and goal-setting methods.
Jazea Smith, a Fisheries Biology major, held workshops on photography and climate change. In climate-focused workshops, students discussed how they’ve personally been affected by more frequent weather events. Many of the Filipino students’ homes and family crops were destroyed in 2021 by Super Typhoon Odette, which the region is still recovering from.
The student’s resiliency inspired Smith. “My biggest takeaway from this workshop was how passionate, vulnerable, and outspoken many of the students were in talking about becoming climate activists, and also truly how similar we all were in often feeling hopeless and afraid about the state of the world,” she says.
Smith never had such a period of accelerated learning in her life, she explains. “Every day prompted new and insightful conversations.”
Matthew Gerber, a Recreation Administration major, also facilitated workshops on photography and cuisine. The culinary exchange highlighted distinct similarities between American (particularly Humboldt County) and Filipino food.
At the end of this workshop, Sudlon students developed recipes that either showcased their favorite homestyle Filipino foods, or Filipino-American cuisine. Gerber’s favorite, he says, was Kinilaw (aka Filipino ceviche) made with Chinook Salmon.
The experience was uniquely rewarding and educational for Gerber, serving as an opportunity to exercise skills and abilities he’s developed at Humboldt: leadership, public speaking, environmental education, arts, culture, community outreach, and more.
Workshops were impactful for all involved, but the visit was meaningful in other ways, says Dean. “Outsiders are not common there, but the entire community welcomed us and the Humboldt students represented our University and country extremely well.”
“It's difficult to describe the truly magical connection that was created during those service days,” he adds. “Humboldt students demonstrated cultural awareness, understood Service Learning principles, and learned about social responsibility through personal and collective shared reflection.”
“I know my classmates learned as much or even more from the students at Sudlon High School than they have from us,” Jason Arcilla, Kinesiology major, explains. In his goal-setting workshop, students learned clarity and focus by setting specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) goals. In return, he developed skills in adaptability, flexibility, and resilience as he navigated new environments and cultural norms.
While it was his first International Service Learning experience, he says it won’t be his last. “It was a beautiful experience that I think everyone should have while they’re here at Cal Poly Humboldt.
“A day in Cebu is a rich and immersive experience offering plenty of opportunities for learning and growth," he says.