Lutherancolleges push learning beyond the books and outside the box,off-campus and overseas...Where will you go? ...

Capital University students (L to R)
Meghan Sobocienski, Meredith Lovell and Karrie Pontious 

Karrie, a junior at Capital University in Columbus, Ohio, spent the summer after her freshman year in South Africa, studying peace and reconciliation in the post-apartheid environment.

“A lot of learning about peace and reconciliation has to do with dialogue between the groups involved, and letting every person’s voice be heard so that people begin to understand each other,” she says. “In our own lives, it involves listening to other people’s stories, and understanding where they’re coming from.

“We stayed with colored families (people of mixed race), and so we had the opportunity to talk to them. We met whites and blacks and heard their views on apartheid and what can be done to further heal the nation in the years after it. We went to townships where many blacks were forced to move during apartheid, and where they still live in terrible conditions today.”

Karrie’s experience in South Africa and her exposure to its Truth and Reconciliation Commission, established to give the victims of apartheid a safe place to speak out, helped form her views on our own history of race relations. “South Africa, since 1992, has come really far in their race relations, and while it still isn’t equal, they’ve been more open than the U.S. has been throughout the years,” she says.

And how does Karrie plan to take her own place in the world?

“I’m unsure of my plans for after graduation. My international studies major has given me the opportunity to study a lot of history and political science, giving me a better view and understanding of the world. Traveling to South Africa and Europe has allowed me to discover just how much I love learning about other cultures and meeting new people, and made me realize that I want that to be a part of whatever it is I choose to do in life.”