Harmony Whitt Attends Salzburg Global Seminar on Global Citizenship

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(l to r) Brevard College students Kimberly Williams, Harmony Whitt, Kevin Manion and Margaret Whitman recently attended the Salzburg Global Seminar on Global Citizenship in Salzburg, Austria.

BREVARD, NC (02/14/2011)(readMedia)-- Harmony Whitt of Candler was one of four students from Brevard College in Brevard, N.C. who recently attended the Salzburg Global Seminar on Global Citizenship in Salzburg, Austria.

The Brevard College group joined students from other small private colleges in the southeastern United States for an intensive week of study, exploration and interaction.

The purpose of the program is to provide an intensive seven-day international experience for participants to explore pressing issues of global concern and to view such issues from a perspective both literally and figuratively outside the borders of the United States.

Whitt, a junior business and organizational leadership major, said that her experience left her feeling a responsibility to share what she learned as well as to be an advocate for others around the world whose voices and stories are never heard.

"I am very pleased that our students were able to have this experience, and I look forward to their sharing their experiences with others on campus in the coming months," said John Hardt, Brevard College's vice president for academic affairs and dean of the faculty. "I have been privileged myself to participate in similar programs of the Salzburg Global Seminar, so I know firsthand some of what they were able to learn and experience."

The Salzburg Global Seminar was established in 1947, as a way to educate the next generation of world leaders. The students studied and lived at the Schloss Leopoldskron, an 18th century baroque estate that has been completely retrofitted to accommodate modern technology. The terrace of the Schloss was featured in a memorable scene in the 1965 film "The Sound of Music."

The program is underwritten in part by the Mellon Foundation, as part of the Mellon Fellows Community Initiative Program, which has earlier supported Brevard faculty to attend similar programs in Salzburg. Each Brevard student received a $500 grant from Brevard College to help pay travel expenses. All other expenses related to the experience were paid by the Mellon Foundation grant.

The seminar was created to "make students more aware of global issues and of what it means to be a 'global citizen', more discerning in their assessment of information pertaining to world affairs, and more understanding of America's place in the world as well as of non-Americans' perception of the U.S., " according to the official Web site.

Brevard College (www.brevard.edu) offers a range of distinctive baccalaureate degree programs on a beautiful residential campus in Brevard, North Carolina. Curriculum at Brevard combines small-classroom instruction with creative internships and immersion experiences, provides a strong core in the liberal arts and offers great strength in fine arts as well as in interdisciplinary programs that educate for leadership and service and draw on the natural resources of the College's mountain setting.