Saratoga’s community college designs program for students of color to study abroad

As she walked along the vibrant streets of Brixton, London’s Afro-Caribbean cultural hub,  West Valley Community College student Tiffany Hayes could feel the pride from the locals.

Neighbors shouted, “Brixton is the best place!” and “Make sure you tell them the whole truth!” to the tour guide who Hayes and her fellow students followed.

“At the end of the day I was reflecting that there’s no other way that I could have gotten the flavor of a place without actually having been there,” Hayes said. “Like reading about it in an article or a course reading would pale in comparison to actually walking the streets and eating in Brixton village and being in that place.”

Hayes was among 16 community college students who embarked on West Valley’s unique 10-day program out of that brings students to iconic historical sites in Europe through the lens of the Black experience.

Renée Kazemipour Paquier, dean of professional studies and health and human development, said the program was designed by students of color to encourage more participation from them. Nearly three quarters of West Valley students who studied abroad in  2017 identified as White, while White students make up just 56.9% of the Saratoga community college’s enrollment.

“There was an inequity of the people who would even apply to these trips,” Paquier said.

Cost can be a significant barrier for all students to study abroad, she added, and even after West Valley was awarded a $100,000 grant to fund scholarships for its study abroad program, the number of BIPOC students applying remained low.

Paquier worked with EF Study Abroad, a program that plans and facilitates programs for schools across the country, and with students to design a program that interested them. The result was “The Black Experience: London, Paris and Amsterdam.”

“We really meant it when we said we’re bringing our students’ voices to the table and we’re taking action,” Paquier said.

Students in the program start in London and tour the British Museum, go on walking tours and explore Brixton.

They hop on a train to Paris to see the Arc de Triomphe, the Louvre and Little Africa, a vibrant neighborhood with African markets, food and fashion. Students finish their trip in Amsterdam with a canal cruise and a tour of the Anne Frank House.