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“The plane ride back from Australia was quite profound,” says Professor Garen Baghdasarian about the SMC Study Abroad Program he led with Professor Nancy Grass Hemmert this past winter. “People were having these incredible conversations across the aisles of the plane, making life-changing decisions. Students were talking about how they might transfer to the University of Sydney after SMC and one student decided to change her major, right there on the plane!”
Given their experiences on the three-week trip to Sydney and Heron Island on the Great Barrier Reef, Professors Grass Hemmert and Baghdasarian found those transformations not surprising in the least: “It was an amazing experience for all of us—we’re definitely going back!”
At first glance it might be difficult to imagine what marine biology has in common with a course in intercultural communication, but SMC Professors Nancy Grass Hemmert of the Communication Department and Garen Baghdasarian of the Life Sciences Department managed to locate where these disparate disciplines join.
“My focus is on culture and communication,” says Grass Hemmert who is currently writing a public speaking textbook for non-native speakers of English that merges her expertise in rhetoric and culture. Examining how we create connections among people of extremely diverse backgrounds, she challenges the students to look inside themselves and ask the difficult questions about race, class, and gender differences that they may not normally be comfortable discussing. Professor Grass Hemmert studied and then taught communication studies at CSUN before coming to Santa Monica College.
Professor Baghdasarian’s specialty is coral reefs and the impact of environmental factors on coral health. His travels have taken him around the world, from Europe to the Caribbean to the Hawaiian Islands to the South Seas. Baghdasarian was a pre-med student at UCLA until following his first scuba dive off Malibu when he was a senior in college. “It was actually a lousy day for a dive—you could see about two feet in front of you—but as soon as I went under water and looked around, I knew this was it. I immediately changed my major to marine biology and I’ve never regretted it.”
During informal discussions, Baghdasarian and Grass Hemmert were amazed at the level of connection between their respective fields. Grass Hemmert noticed similarities between biological evolution and human cultural development, while Baghdasarian was intrigued by the importance of cultural norms and beliefs in the formation of global environmental policies. “How does the culture you grow up in affect your outlook on the environment?” asks Baghdasarian. “This is a question that includes science, an understanding of culture, and even elements of communication.” The groundwork was set for their first cross-disciplinary study abroad program in Australia.
This approach was very successful, says Jennifer Gottesfeld, one of the students on the Study Abroad trip. “We spent the last day on this pristine beach on Heron Island talking about this very thing,” she says. “Some of the connections were obvious, like pollution, problems with over-fishing, things like that. But other things were more abstract like what the ocean has meant to various cultures and how it’s been this symbol of power, beauty and mystery to all sorts of people over the centuries.
“Plus, you don’t really get a clear picture of your own culture until you step out of it, travel to a different place, and turn around and look back at the society you grew up in. Our professors were great at guiding us through these questions and giving us a new perspective on our own culture and the cultures of the world.”
The first ten days of the program were spent in Sydney, host of the 2000 Olympics and one of the most beautiful cities in the world. The students on the trip spent their mornings in class with Professors Baghdasarian and Grass Hemmert at the University of Sydney. In the afternoons the group set out on excursions to such places as the famous Sydney Opera House, the Sydney Aquarium, the Gavala Aboriginal Art Center, Muru Mittigar, and the Taronga Zoo. The nights were free for exploring and for meeting in study groups.
“We had to cover two full courses worth seven units in three weeks and let me tell you—it was extremely intense,” says Jennifer Gottesfeld. “This was not a trip about partying and hanging out, although we did have a lot of fun. And the Australian people, they are some of the warmest people I’ve ever met. It’s not like L.A., where everyone’s so concerned about being cool. They’ll just come up to you on the street and start talking to you—they’re unbelievably friendly.”
Given the rigorous schedule, Professor Baghdasarian was impressed at how well the students performed academically: “We did not skimp at all. We covered the material of an entire semester while we were there; it was very demanding, but I had students acing tests.” Perhaps some of the success of the students can be attributed to the enthusiasm of Professors Baghdasarian and Grass Hemmert. Baghdasarian says, “The students’ academic achievements were not surprising given that they were completely immersed in the culture, and,” he adds with a smile, “in the water.”
Following their stay in Sydney, the SMC group flew to Gladstone, stayed overnight, and then took a boat to Heron Island. “Imagine paradise, and you’ve got a good picture of Heron Island,” says Professor Grass Hemmert. “I’ve never seen water so blue and so crystal clear. And the wildlife we saw there was just incredible.” The Heron Island Marine Station is a world-class marine biology research laboratory, located on the Great Barrier Reef. Adjacent to Queensland National Park and Wildlife Service and bisected by the Tropic of Capricorn, the seas off Heron Island are home to around 900 of the 1500 species of fish and over 70% of the coral species found in the Great Barrier Reef.
“It’s amazing there,” says Baghdasarian. “Imagine taking students down to this gorgeous beach having them actually watch sea turtle hatchlings emerge from their sandy nests and scatter down to the ocean and swim away. There are schools of sharks cruising by offshore and some of the most beautiful coral reefs in the world to explore. It’s a living lab, right in front of your eyes. Plus, you’ve got one of the best marine stations in the world that’s been operating since 1953, so—well, you can imagine what kind of a learning environment it was. It’s no wonder they were all acing their exams.
“Scuba diving is sort of like walking in the forest except you’re floating in the middle of all this life and there are things above and below you, on the right and the left, everywhere! You can be swimming along and suddenly you go right over a marine cliff and a school of sharks are gliding by—I’ve never seen anything so amazing!”
The group stayed in dorms at the Marine Station. “You can walk around the entire island in about forty-five minutes,” says Professor Grass Hemmert, “so we spent a good deal of time with the students exploring the island while discussing the interconnections between people and nature. Plus by this time everyone knew each other very well—we were so lucky: it was an absolutely fabulous group of people.”
After the long flight home, the students reconvened at Santa Monica College for four more days of class work. “There was no break to decompress or get over jet lag,” says Jennifer Gottesfeld. “We landed one night and were back in class the next evening. I’m telling you, this was the most intense experience of my life, but also the greatest.”
Jennifer feels like she has a leg up on some of her friends from high school who went to four-year universities. “I love telling them that I just returned from my community college study abroad program,” she says with a sly chuckle, “because they aren’t allowed to do anything like that till they’re juniors or seniors and they cannot believe it!”