Welcome, Parents!Dear parents of potential Casa students, Greetings from El Salvador and welcome to our web page describing the Casa de la Solidaridad program. We hope you find this site informative and descriptive of the unique study abroad program we have created. We developed this site to give potential students the information they need in order to discern whether or not this is the right program for them. We thought it would be good to have a link specifically for parents of these students. So welcome to the Parents Link! As you can see from the web site, the Casa is a collaborative academic program between members of the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities (AJCU), the Jesuit-run University of Central America (UCA), and Santa Clara University. This unique study abroad experience provides students with the opportunity to integrate direct immersion with the poor of El Salvador and rigorous academic study. The Casa, which began five years ago, has become one of the finest Jesuit study abroad programs focused on issues such as justice and solidarity. Over the years, we have had some students’ parents express their concerns about letting their sons and daughters travel to El Salvador to study abroad. Being parents ourselves (we have three young daughters), we understand the desire to ensure the safety of our children. We want to reassure you that we take issues of safety very seriously here at the Casa. In order to ensure the safety of our students, we have implemented a number of important safety guidelines that we expect our students to uphold. For example, students do not go out alone after dark and they cannot ride the buses alone any time of day. Some of the students, especially after they have been here a while, express to us that they do not feel the need to follow these guidelines. They feel so safe. Of course, all students must continue to adhere to the terms of the Safety Covenant at all times. We share with them that in order to have this type of study abroad opportunity, we need to be extra cautious about safety. We also spend the first week of students’ time in El Salvador covering issues of safety and security. Obviously, no study abroad program can guarantee students’ safety at all times. We do, however, go to great lengths to ensure our students’ safety. We would never be in this line of work if we felt that our students were any more at risk than if, say, they were in a big city like New York or Chicago. On the left toolbar, you will find links to reflections by several parents who were hesitant in allowing their children to study abroad in El Salvador. Eventually, they did decide to let them participate and then the parents themselves visited during the student’s semester. They have agreed to serve as contacts if you would like to get an additional perspective about our program. Also, we do encourage parents to visit their sons and daughters during the semester. More than half of the students’ parents actually do decide to visit. The rest of the questions you have right now can probably also be answered through the other sections of this website. You can see on the toolbar that there is a link for Health and Safety Information, as well as Curriculum. Financial & Cost information is listed under "Program Description." You may also need to check with your student's home school (if not Santa Clara) for details about how the credit transfer and billing/cost arrangements work. Peace, |
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