Many people never get the opportunity to travel, especially not to a foreign country, but one UW-Madison program goes further, providing students six credits for four weeks spent experiencing another country first-hand for as little as $300.
Representatives of the Student Volunteer Work Program are in Madison this week recruiting for next summer.
This past summer groups of UW-Madison students traveled to Australia, Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic with the SVWP.
Laura Censky, a UW-Madison sophomore, and Kara Felzien, a UW-Madison senior, participated in the SVWP last summer, both journeying to Costa Rica.
While there, Censky worked on a social level with local people, while Felzien concentrated more on conservation study.
\I really wanted to submerse myself in another culture,"" Censky said. ""However, I had no prior Spanish speaking experience.""
Censky worked on a pineapple plantation with the men of the small community of 50 in which she lived for two weeks. She also helped build trails and worked on a fish farm, while Felzien lived in a cloud forest.
""A cloud forest is at a high elevation with cooler temperatures. This place is a more off-the-beaten path type of resort area, not quite as commercialized,"" she said.
Felzien also worked with entomology, as her group attempted to discover a new species of wasps.
""There's a lot of diversity in the cloud forest but seeing animals is more difficult in the lush green environment,"" Felzien said.
Nonetheless, only the first two weeks of the SVWP trips are actual work. The last two are spent on an adventure across the country.
""We did things such as white-water rafting, and repel down waterfalls, yet the best part was the bungee jump,"" Censky said.
To accommodate growing numbers, the SVWP, which is part of International Student Travel, is expanding this year to include parts of North America and British Columbia.
""The IST encourages travel with a purpose and the best time to partake in such a journey is as an undergraduate at university,"" Sue White of the IST said.
The SVWP focuses on environmental work, research and eco-tourism, ""linking environmental conservation with sustainable tourism,"" said Mark Liles, a UW-Madison professor of life science and plant pathology.
Liles ventured to Australia last summer with the SVWP, where he acted as mentor to a group of about 20 students. His group worked in and around the Daintree Rainforest, which is a world heritage park next to the Great Barrier Reef.
""Here you have incredible biological diversity in the rainforest right next to amazing coral reefs,"" he said.
Liles and his group collaborated with Austrop, a group that supports conservation in Australia. They worked with a community of orphaned flying foxes, the largest type of fruit bats. The students fed the bats and introduced them to tourists who were able to feed them as well.
""[The SVWP] is a great way to learn environmental awareness and awareness of self,"" Censky said.
IST representatives will be holding informational meetings Thursday, every hour on the hour, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Union South, TITU. All students are eligible to apply for the program and are encouraged to do so at the meeting as there is no immediate commitment, according to White.
There are 50 spots available to UW-Madison students. The IST works with a scholarship donation program to enable students to fundraise to reduce the cost from $2,095 to $300. Also, this year the IST is attempting to gain corporate and individual sponsorship.
