Holly Wise Hosts News Conference for The Global News Team

By: Matthew Masepohl

mcm210@txstate.edu

                                                          

SAN MARCOS, Texas – Holly Wise, a Texas State University lecturer, discussed the university’s Global News Team and their study abroad plans for 2018 in a news conference this past Monday in Old Main.

The Global News Team is a study abroad program for all students in the School of Journalism & Mass Communication that was founded by Wise in 2015. For the past two years, The Global News Team partnered up with Texas State University’s St. David’s School of Nursing to travel to Nicaragua.

Wise discussed how the yearly trips are different from most study abroad programs because they involve learning through services.

“Service learning trips are a little bit different,” said Wise. “You’re often living in people’s communities, instead of having that removal where you’re studying at a university and going out at night to party. In these service learning trips, you’re embedded and really immersed in that local community.”

In 2018, the Global News Team will partner up with the Texas State Department of Respiratory Care to travel to Guyana. While there, the Department of Respiratory Care will give respiratory therapy in clinics and communities. They will also be volunteering at a high school to give asthma screenings to students and discuss the dangers of smoking.

The tasks of the Global News Team is to document the trip. They will do so by taking pictures and videos as well as interviewing patients and local doctors. They will then spend much of their time editing the content they’ve collected and sharing it on social media.

Wise described the trip as a lot of work, but also a lot of fun.

“You’ll be working,” proclaimed Wise. “And when we’re not being media professionals, we’re playing with the kids and keeping them entertained while their parents are waiting for medical care.”

Wise described the greatest benefits of the trip as being personal.

“One thing that I’m hoping for for (sic) all of my students is that they gain a global perspective of their work,” Wise said. “Once you see these people [in the communities], you realize that their life is very fulfilled and very happy. There’s a lot of joy in these homes and in these families, and I hope that can de-spell any kind of judgement that we might have toward people who live in developing countries. ”

Recruitment for the next trip, which will take place in 2018 from Jan. 2-13, has already passed. However, If any student is interested in joining the Global News Team for future trips, they can contact Wise through her email: hlw24@txstate.edu.