Study Abroad with Amizade Improves Employability

In an authoritative study published in the Interdisciplinary Journal of Study Abroad, researchers interviewed 352 firms, organizations and agencies across a wide range of industries throughout the United States to investigate how studying abroad impacts a student’s employability. The study concluded that employers’ value the intercultural/global competence and skills learned from studying abroad and that studying abroad can have a positive impact on a person’s employability.

Specifically, employers highly value experiential-learning programs with service learning and internship components.

The study found that the following opportunities make students more attractive to employers:

·         4-10 week summer service learning program

·         14-18 week semester program with classes outside university

·         14-18 week semester service learning program

Qualities that Employers Recognize are Enhanced by Study Abroad Include:

• -          Listens and observes well
• -          Flexible, adapts well
• -          Curious; wants to discover more
• -          Non-judgmental toward other world views
• -          Willing to take risks and to learn new things
• -          Recognize own world view is not universal

Personal Skills that Employers Realize are Enhanced by Study Abroad:

• -          Works well under pressure
• -          Analyzes, evaluates, interprets well
• -          Communicates effectively in intercultural situations
• -          Understand global economic and political trends
• -          Well-informed re: world events/history
• -          Effective socializing/doing business elsewhere
• -          Knowledgeable re: other history/culture

By participating in an Amizade service learning study abroad program, students gain these prized skills for future employment.

Amizade empowers individuals and communities through worldwide service and learning. We offer programs in nine countries, and those programs range from semester long service learning courses, short term individual internships.


Many thanks to Amizade Intern Laura Hoch for summarizing the information featured above! 

*Tooboff, Stevan, Michael Vande Berg and Jack Rayman. “Employer Attitude Toward Study Abroad.” The Interdisciplinary Journal of Study Abroad. http://www.frontiersjournal.com/documents/TrooboffVandebergRaymonFRONTIERSJOURNALXVWinter2007-08-pdf.pdf.

Thankful for: 15 Years of Amizade Volunteers Making a Difference

Fifteen years ago, Dan Weiss organized a group of friends for a volunteer project in the Brazilian Amazon. The group saw things they had never before imagined and made a difference in a way they hadn't previously thought possible. When he returned to the United States, Dan founded Amizade - using the Portuguese word for friendship - to provide people who want to make a difference around the world with the opportunity to do so through volunteer programs. Since that time, Amizade has connected thousands of volunteers with community-driven service programs around the world - and also expanded to offer academically rigorous service-learning programs in cooperation with West Virginia University. Volunteers and students join our programs from across the country and around the world, and collectively, they have:

• Built classrooms, a children's center, a kitchen, community centers, and offices with Pastoral do Menor, a Brazilian organization that supports children's educational opportunities and safety.
• Provided thousands of hours of tutoring at schools in the Navajo Nation while learning in-depth about Navajo life, history, and culture.  
• Cooperated with an exceptional community development organization in rural Jamaica, The Association of Clubs, to provide children with tutoring support, computer skills classes, photography and videography workshops, and  educational and fun summer camp experiences. 
• Raised awareness, improved understanding, and completed historical landscape preservation at and around Auschwitz in ongoing efforts to support Holocaust Remembrance and Contemporary Anti-Genocide Programming. 
• Learned about and supported efforts to address severe poverty, hunger, and homelessness in Washington, DC. 
• Provided volunteer support in health clinics and hospitals and also nearly finished construction of the first library in the area in Jukwa, Ghana. 
• Built an orphanage and school classrooms in Cochabamba, Bolivia, while also providing thousands of hours of direct service with children in orphanages and a Center for Children with disabilities.
• Supported youth programming and built a peace labyrinth in Northern Ireland, all while learning more about the Peace and Reconciliation process there.
• Ensured the environmental preservation and historical restoration of the OTO Dude Ranch, the first guest ranch in the American West, in Gardiner, Montana.  
• Beautified a school and supported English as a Foreign Language learning along the Mayan Riviera. 
• Cooperated with organizations and individuals in Pittsburgh, PA, to enhance literacy and numeracy tutoring programs for newly arriving refugee populations. 
• Increased water access and improved basic women's rights in rural Tanzania by cooperating with local organizations to install water harvesting systems, an effort now marked every spring in Pittsburgh and Morgantown with the Annual Water Walk for Women's Rights. View the video from a previous year's water walk below. For more information, or to get involved in the 2010 Water Walk, email Laura Hoch in Pittsburgh (Laura@amizade.org) or Anna Phillips in Morgantown (Anna@amizade.org). 

• Amizade volunteers have completed all of these things and much, much more, and I'm thankful to be part of these Amizade efforts! 

Thankful for: 15 Years of Safe Programming

For 15 years, Amizade has been safely connecting individuals with volunteer and service-learning programming around the world. We have been able to do so safely and securely throughout that 15-year period, because

• we've followed the best practices articulated by NAFSA: The Association of International Educators,
• we've been rigorous in our review of sites, potential homestay families, and service partners,
• we've stayed up to date with State Department and local news media whenever there are concerns in an area, and, 
• most importantly, because we hire, work with, and trust our very competent and committed local site coordinators. 

Amizade is very thankful for the competent and committed people with whom we work around the world, and the role they have played in ensuring volunteer and student safety, consistently, for 15 years. 

Oregon Man to Volunteer Around the World with Amizade

A fantasy volunteer globe-trotting community-driven service expedition that few have imagined and even fewer have completed. Lee Spangler, a 63-year-old retired individual who keeps a daily photo blog in his hometown of Bend, Oregon, is only about a month away from embarking on a three-month journey during which he will serve and learn with Amizade in Brazil, Bolivia, Tanzania, Jamaica, and the Navajo Nation. Lee has already started blogging in preparation for his experience, mentioning the beautiful Pico Iyer travel essay that's part of the Amizade Journal.

Lee's journey also demonstrates a substantial commitment to giving one's time, energy, and resources in efforts to support communities worldwide. That commitment brings to mind another striking and important essay featured in the Amizade Journal, Princeton Philosopher Peter Singer's "What Should a Billionaire Give -  and What Should You?"

Check out Lee's Amizade Adventure blog and sign-in as a follower. It's sure to be an adventuresome several months!

2nd Annual Amizade Exposed Photo Contest!

Amizade is thrilled to announce the 

2nd Annual Amizade Exposed Photo Contest! 

Showcase your photography skills and share your Amizade experiences! Prizes will be awarded to top winner of each of the following categories: 

1. Landscape/Beauty,
2. Cultural Immersion and Global Citizenship, and 
3. Black & White.  

Photo entries may also be used in the 2010 Amizade Calendar, on the Amizade Website, or in other outreach materials!


Official Rules:



1. All returning Amizade Global-Service Learning students, volunteers, group leaders and faculty are encouraged to enter the Second Annual Amizade Exposed Photo Contest.



2. Images must have been photographed by an Amizade program participant, leader, faculty member, community member, or community partner.



3. Applicants agree to allow the use of their photo submission for Amizade Global Service-Learning & Volunteer Program promotional purposes and in related Amizade publications.



4. The top five winners will be displayed in West Virginia University’s Cultural & Arts Center.  Top prizes will be awarded in each category.



5. Photos will be judged by an open vote between December 23 and January 10, 2010 from all who access the Gallery on Amizade’s website ( http://www.amizade.org/ ) on the basis of their content and quality.



6. Winners will be announced on January 15, 2009.

Submission Guidelines:

There will be three categories in which participants may compete:

1. Landscape & Beauty
2. Cultural Immersion & Global Citizenship
3. Black & White

Individuals may submit up to three (3) photos in each category.



Photos must be submitted by December 15, 2009 at midnight.


Voting will take place through the Amizade website between December 23 and January 10, 2010.

Any submissions missing required information may be eliminated from the competition.



Winners will receive recognition, a unique prize and a set of greeting cards hand-painted by individuals at Amizade’s Community Partner Site in Cochabamba, Bolivia, The Ceoli Center for People with Disabilities.



To enter:


Email a digital copy of the photo(s) to: anna@amizade.org



Include your name, email address, location/date of photo, and a brief description of the photo (no more than 3 sentences). 



We look forward to seeing your photos! 

Extremely Affordable Study Abroad: Amizade Cooperates with WVU to Ensure Access to Global Service-Learning for Everyone

Yes, it is true, it is possible to study abroad affordably - sometimes for even less than the cost of studying on campus. We want to make global service-learning as affordable and accessible as possible for all students. Though our semester costs are already below the average of semester college costs for out-of-state students, we have also worked to provide special opportunities for WVU and WV students. 

Amizade is pleased to be nearing its 5th year of partnership with West Virginia University, through which we cooperate to offer academically-rigorous, community-based, safe and secure global service-learning semesters and break programs. 

Three global service-learning semesters are currently offered through the partnership, and special scholarship opportunities apply to WVU students! Additionally, WV Promise Scholarships may be applied. Opportunities include: 

• Indigenous Politics, Service, and Development in the Andes in Cochabamba, Bolivia, which offers credits in Spanish, Political Science, and History. 

• Amazon to Atlantic: Development and Change  in Brazil, which offers credits in Political Science and Portuguese.  

• International Justice, Identity, and Sustainable Development in rural Tanzania, which offers credits in Philosophy, Swahili, and Political Science. 

Amizade anticipates continuing to offer these semester programs in cooperation with WVU indefinitely. 

According to the College Board, the average semester cost of college attendance for an out-of-state student at a public institution this academic year is $13,370, including room, board and costs. ALL of the Amizade-WVU semester programs cost less than that national average. Additionally, through the Amizade-WVU partnership: 

• Amizade guarantees special scholarships for WVU students participating in semester programs. The minimum scholarship provided to a WVU student entering a semester programs is $1,270. 
• WV Promise Scholarship Funding may be applied to semester programs.  

Amizade is committed to making global service-learning as affordable and accessible as possible.