Global Student Leaders take ASU brand abroad

The Global Leadership Experience course gives students valuable experiences through trips to various parts of the world.

This year, the course is offering three trips overseas to Ecuador, India and Sri Lanka.

Trips to Ecuador and India are scheduled during the week of spring break, March 16 through 25.

Clint Relyea, a coordinator of the international business program, said the trip to Sri Lanka is very new and will be in August.

On the trip to Ecuador, students will work in micro industries in Salinas.

Coordinator of the trip to Ecuador, Taylor Woodruff, an undergraduate assistant for the International Business Resource Center, said students will not only help people in those places have a better quality of life and learn how the culture functions, but will also learn to appreciate what they have here and the differences of other developed cultures.

"They don't have electricity all the time, and they don't have clean water and education," Woodruff said.

He went to Ecuador once and he said it was very surprising for him how someone who lives on $2 a day can be so happy and energetic about life.

"Here in the U.S., we forget what living is truly about and we work to live and live to work. We all could use a good lesson on simple appreciation; instead we worry and become angry when our 3G isn't working." Woodruff said.

"That is something this experience has really taught me, just appreciate."

He also said it is incredible to see how people who joined the trip have impacted them over the last four years.

"The community now has a positive business strategy and some of the industries have really grown." Woodruff said.

Paxton Marotti, a senior international business major of West Memphis, also went to Ecuador last spring and he decided to go on the exact same trip this year.

"I applied for this trip because I have a minor in

Spanish and I love anything that involves international travel." Marotti said.

"My expectations for this trip are really high because this time, I believe our group will positively impact Salinas Village in a more permanent and efficient manner."

Kara Jacks, a junior international business major of Lonoke, also went to Ecuador last year and is going on the same trip this year.

"Going to Ecuador was beneficial for me because I got to see a small part of the world's economy and how it differs from the United States," Jacks said.

"Going back with the experience that I gained from last year, I'm hoping that we can bring more new and fresh ideas that can help the businesses thrive and expand."

Jacks also said the global leadership experience is important because it gives people a chance to see the world and gives them a chance to become a global citizen.

Associate professor of environmental economics, Gauri Shankar Guha, who coordinates the trip to India, said students will have three different types of experiences in India.

One of them is a cultural experience visiting the Taj Mahal, and another is an educational experience interacting with faculty and students at the School of Management in Pondicherry, visiting labs and classrooms.

Students will also have the opportunity to do service projects by working with artisans in micro industries, making silk and handicrafts.

"Our students will work for free and if possible bring back some handicrafts, sell them locally, and remit the monies to the micro-companies." Guha said.

"Service leadership is most important, because this gives us an opportunity to create a positive image about ASU in the minds of the local people."

Guha said one of his aims on this trip is taking the ASU brand to the world.

He said if ASU students help people in the country, then those people will be interested in and think of ASU when they want to come to the United States to study.

"That is the strategy of building a brand," Guha said.

He also talked about the international business theory. This means that before people start selling something in different countries, they should go there and grow the product in the country first.

According to Woodruff, about 18 students are planning to go on the trip to Ecuador, about five students are planning to go to India and about 10 students are planning to go to Sri Lanka.

Relyea said the deadline for the application for the Ecuador trip has already passed, but anyone at ASU can apply for the rest of the trips.

Woodruff said each trip usually costs about $2,500, and can be acquired through fundraising. For the India trip, Guha said it will cost only $1,000.

"We look for students who are very driven and who really want to have an impact," Woodruff said.