AMELIE SEDLACK / FEATURE EDITOR

While many students traveled home to their families or went on a spring break  trip  with  their   friends, one group of students continued their studies in China over the break. 

USD students traveled to China with their class to learn about the culture and politics of the country.  

USD history professor Yi Sun, PhD, and USD professor of political science and international relations Kacie Miura, PhD, have been teaching the course, “China from Confucian Empire to World Power” to selected students. These students had to first go through a multiple step application and interview process in the fall in order to be accepted into the course for the spring semester. All students who were admitted into the course would automatically go to China over the break.

Miura described what they were looking for in the students who applied for the course. 

“The students were carefully chosen and it wasn’t based on merit per se because we didn’t ask for a GPA or anything,” Miura explained. “Really  we  were   looking  for   students who would really appreciate this opportunity, those who had never studied abroad before, those who already had an interest in China.” 

Although the opportunity is for everyone, the course selected to travel to China was an upper-division international relations and history course. Because of this, most applicants were within the majors and met the credit requirements for an upper-division course.

“Initially we were thinking it should be for upper division students because it is an upper division class, but we took a good number of sophomores and I think it’s because they met the credit requirements,” Miura said. “They also had to convince us that they would be mature and responsible, that they would come in open-minded and have a go-with-the-flow kind of attitude.”

This study abroad program is made possible by donations from the Chapman family. Together with his wife Kristin Chapman,  USD  alum  Greg  Chapman,  decided  to  create  an opportunity for USD students to travel free of charge to countries that are not typically offered by other programs. 

USD professor of political science   and   international   relations and director of the Chapman Family Foundation Emily Edmunds-Poli, PhD, explained why this grant had been given to USD by the Chapman family. 

“[Mr. Chapman] was an [international relations] major in the early 1990’s and he spent a semester at sea,” Edmunds-Poli said. “He talks about that experience as being really transformative for him and really opening his eyes to the importance of travel and not just the exposure it gives you but also what you learn about yourself.”

Edmunds-Poli also recounted the history of the grant at USD. 

“We got the gift from the Chapman Family Foundation in 2020, but we couldn’t really use a lot of it because USD wasn’t sending any programs abroad because of COVID. There was a little bit of a lag period. It didn’t really get up and running until the spring of 2022. In the spring of ‘24 we found out they were going to renew the gift so we have funding until 2030.”

 Through the money from the Chapman Family Foundation, USD is able to send students abroad without financial barriers. 

Taylor Ulrich works at the International Center and has helped to create the itinerary for this recent trip to China and three of the previous trips to different countries, including twice in Bogota, Columbia and Barbados. 

“Every single student would be able to go if they were selected to be in the class and that’s not always the case,” Ulrich explained. “Finances and other things [can get in the way at] times, and it’s really nice that it’s over spring break. I’ve never had a student not able to go because they’re in athletics or something like that.”

Miura explained that USD was able to work with Xi’an Jiaotong University in China who helped with receiving visas. Xi’an Jiaotong University is a C9 university, which is similar to an Ivy League in the United States. Because of the relationship with a university in China, USD students were able to tour their campus, have dinner there and hang out with local students. 

“Our students, some of them, ended up playing basketball with Chinese students,” Miura recalled. “These spontaneous sorts of interactions that we couldn’t have planned and wouldn’t have happened had they been on just your normal tour group. When would they ever get to hang out with Chinese students on a Chinese campus? These experiences are just so special and impossible to recreate in a different type of setting.”

USD junior Gerald Deleon Guerrero was a part of the class. He  explained  how  helpful  it  was  to  have  learned   about China through a college course first before visiting in order to understand the context   for   all   that   he saw  and  the  places  he  visited. 

“Going to Beijing and visiting Tiananmen Square where so much history has happened, it was such a surreal feeling,” Deleon Guerrero shared. “I was in the same space as Xi Jinping for once or Boaz Huang. Those are very prominent world leaders so to share that space with them, to be in that space was such a surreal feeling. But also making that connection. I would have never felt that way if I didn’t know the history of Tiananmen Square or standing on the Great Wall and knowing that history.”

Deleon Guerrero also admitted a hesitancy about visiting a country  that  is  not  always spoken about in the best light. 

“There was a lot of hesitancy and reservation surrounding my participation in the trip,” Deleon Guerrero shared. “There was a little bit of fear but ultimately when you get this kind of opportunity you need to welcome it with open arms and an open mind. That’s exactly what I did.”

Last year, the Chapman Family Foundation funded a trip to Barbados. The course taught about the history and politics of Barbados including the history of colonization, the island’s relationship to the U.S. now and their culture including food and music.

USD senior Jacquelynn Perez talked about her experience last year. She shared that while Barbados is a beautiful island with a rich culture, they have also suffered under the effects of colonization. This course showed her the reality of that as she remembered a time they toured a rum factory plantation. 

“What struck us all was how it was still being framed and run under a slavery kind of way, still lingering on the plantation,” Perez said. “Which is very surprising because we thought there has been a lot of progression that has happened and so we were kind of shocked as a class … I think that when I was there, people are still being dismissed and treated even though  they  were  from  the  island.”

Last year, a class traveled to Barbados through the Chapman Family Foundation. Photos courtesy of Jacquelynn Perez

The    Chapman    family    has   been able to fund a program that has  touched  many  students at USD, providing unique opportunities.  Next  year,  a  selected  course will be going to Morocco. 

USD students learning a Chinese dragon dance from a Xi’an student. Caden Haynor/The USD Vista