Program Takes Student to the Outback
	by Kris Colongeli-Hamill While his friends were spending fall football weekends last year huddled under heavy jackets, Steven H. Smith '98 was sweltering in Australia's dry summer heat as a participant in the School for International Training study abroad program. Coordinated by the College's Office of International Programs, the SIT program emphasizes hands-on, field-based experiential learning with both academic and community service components. Smith, an anthropology major with a minor in environmental studies, chose Australia because its diverse ecosystem makes it a hot spot for environmental issues. Activities for the 21 members of his group, who hailed from colleges and universities throughout the United States, were centered near Queensland, close to the equator, where the rain forest and Great Barrier Reef meet. Following a week of orientation and a two-week stay with a host family, Smith flew to Brisbane, where he spent a few days listening to lectures on cultural history given by an aboriginal elder. This was followed by an environmental education camp during which he and his friends were asked to write and perform a "rap poem" on their personal environmental ethic. Smith then flew back with his colleagues to Cairns in preparation for a five-day camping trip in the barren bushland (peripheral to the Outback) with his aboriginal guides. It was during this time that he learned how to throw spears, perfect his boomerang, and avoid termite mounds the size of Volkswagons. He says his biggest problem was keeping cool, since virtually all the waterways, while inviting, were crocodile infested. A highlight of this outing was a mountain hike to see 30,000-year-old cave paintings that reflected the aboriginal philosophy that all human beings have an animal spirit within them. Smith saw the caves only after his guide secured permission from the resident spirits. At night by the campfire, the guides would recount the myths of creation-myths passed down from generation to generation. Their aim, says Smith, is to maintain strong ties to their culture. "They want to keep their sense of being and their sense of place," he says. After the camping trip, Smith spent 10 days investigating the tropical rain forest. His research project was to study the effect of plant-eating animals and insects on the rain forest in terms of which plants they favor and the amount of damage they do. He considered this a "methods and techniques" experience to give him a taste of the prerequisites needed for a larger scale study. "I learned more in a week in the rain forest than in a semester in the classroom," he says. Smith then went to the Great Barrier Reef where, with an underwater camera and clipboard, he spent another 10 days snorkeling in pursuit of the lined butterfly fish, attempting to determine its feeding patterns and what corals it favored. He described this experience as "like living out of National Geographic . . . but difficult, since fish are not stationary edibles." Between different segments of the visit, Smith attended lectures and made contacts in the community. He even worked as a volunteer at the local SPCA. The final push came in the form of an independent study project for which he was given six academic credits. Smith focused on how burning selected tracts of land made it accessible for hunting and wildlife maintenance and prepared the terrain for replanting. At the end of the project, the group reunited for a few days of relaxation prior to the trip home. Smith was not without some withdrawal pains upon his return to the United States. "I felt I couldn't possibly express what I felt to family and friends, that anything I could say wouldn't do justice to what I had seen or experienced. I found I already missed the friendliness and laid-back attitude of these hardworking yet balanced Australians."