Planning begins for trip to 49th parallel

Students will encounter many sights and facets of culture that cannot be experienced in a classroom, say the excursion’s organizers. Students in the program will have the opportunity to step foot on a glacier at Columbia Iceland and Crowfoot Glacier, and see one of the tallest waterfalls in Canada, Takakkaw Falls. In Vancouver, British Columbia, students will observe the multitude of spoken languages from all over the world and go to the second largest Chinatown in the Western Hemisphere. Two national parks, Glacier National Park of Montana and Banff national park of Alberta, are on the itinerary. Cities on the trip include Wallace, Idaho, Portland, Ore., and Calgary, Alberta. 

The trip is open to all CSC students, including graduate students, who would like to experience first-hand the different cultural and political aspects of the cities and areas near the latitudinal coordinate of the 49th Parallel. Students involved in the experience are eligible to receive three credits to fulfill requirements in history, communication arts, or global and social awareness. History or Education are eligible for three credits in both history and global and social awareness. 

Students taking the trip for history or global and social credits will be looking at the cities, forests, and people, and exploring why populations located in close proximity have different languages. They will also be looking at different cultural aspects through food. 

“I fully believe in understanding immigration through food,” said Dr. Jeff Morgan, CSC assistant professor of history who is one of the advisers for the trip. 

Four communications majors will report on the trip. Their objective will be to assemble a 12- to 16-page special edition of student newspaper, the Eagle. They will learn how to do field work in an environment other than the office or classroom. Another adviser for the trip, CSC instructor of communication arts Michael Kennedy said students will have to “plan for primitive working conditions.”      

Registration price for each student is $1,258 with the possibility of a $100-$200 increase. A $150 deposit will be required to hold the place for each student. Students will be refunded $425 of the registration fee for personal spending. 

For more information about the Borderline Excursion: The 49th Parallel study away program contact the CSC Department of Social and Communication Arts by phone at 308-432-6257 or 308-432-6047, or e-mail jmorgan@csc.edu or mkennedy@csc.edu.