'Fantastic Voyage: Teaching, Learning and Serving Worldwide' panel presentation April 30

ELIZABETHTOWN, PA (04/24/2012)(readMedia)-- Have you ever wondered if it rains in The Gambia or what they eat for breakfast in Nepal? In the last event of spring 2012, Bowers Writers House at Elizabethtown College offers three unique perspectives on studying and living abroad.

At 8 p.m. Monday, April 30, Bowers Writers House hosts the public panel presentation "Fantastic Voyage: Teaching, Learning and Serving Worldwide," with voices from Cassie Savitz, a senior occupational therapy major; Karen Hodges, a class of 2004 graduate and coordinator of Campus Events and Scheduling at E-town; and Dr. Kurt DeGoede, associate professor in the College's Engineering Department, who offer a dynamic presentation about what it means to learn and serve across the globe.

Savitz travelled to South Sudan during the summer of 2011 with the NGO New Community Project, a faith-based organization that provides learning tour opportunities in places where earth and its people are struggling. She worked on projects of self-sustainability that focused on hunger and education. Savitz, a 2013 master's candidate for occupational therapy, also resided at a children's home where she was "mother" to 60 children.

Hodges, who graduated from Elizabethtown in 2004 with a bachelor's degree in business administration, has been employed with Elizabethtown College since 1993. She has travelled with New Community Project to many places in the world and has had a first-hand look at troubling situations in Burma, South Sudan, Nepal and Ecuador, and has experienced the resilience and determination of those who live there.

DeGoede currently is developing a collaborative study-abroad program in West Africa, built around a design course based in service engineering. Outside his primary research interests in biomechanics and modeling dynamic systems, this work is focused on renewable energy systems. He is collaborating with Dr. Momodou Jain, chair of the Physics department at the University of The Gambia (UTG), to progress toward UTG's offering of an engineering degree. DeGoede also is partnering with Rowan University, working side by side with faculty members and students in The Gambia, to design sustainable systems for addressing challenges there within the limitations of the local environment.

Admission to this event is free and is first-come first-served – please arrive at least a half hour before the event to secure seating. A reception follows.

Contact: Jesse Waters at writershouse@etown.edu or 717-689-3945.

Bowers Writers House at Elizabethtown College, 840 College Hill Lane, was created with a generous gift by Kenneth L. '59 and Rosalie E. '58 Bowers to support a culture of creative curiosity and foster a new sense of excitement and enthusiasm for intellectual diversity. The Bowers Writers House is an interdisciplinary venue for presentation, performance, expression and study. The programs-from dramatic readings to interactive panels to musical performances-offer a dynamic variety of enjoyable and informative experiences. Visit www.etown.edu/centers/writershouse.

Elizabethtown College, in south-central Pennsylvania, is a private coed institution offering more than four dozen liberal arts, fine and performing arts, science and engineering, business, communications and education degrees. Through personal attention, creative inspiration and academic challenge, Elizabethtown College students are encouraged to expand their intellectual curiosity and are given the opportunity to become an important part of the bigger world through experiential learning-research, internships and study abroad. Elizabethtown College's overall commitment to Educate for Service is fulfilled as students are taught intellectually, socially, aesthetically and ethically for lives of service and leadership.

Visit www.etown.edu for more information about Elizabethtown College.