International Leadership Challenge Project Presentation

International Leadership Challenge Project Presentation
Maggie Beecher and Gus Blessing

General What The project was a 4 session book club based on the book “Travels with Myself” by Tahir Shah. The participants were current Texas A&M students who are passionate about international affairs and interested in cultural awareness. The event was hosted in the MSC Forsyth Galleries. Why The two purposes of this project were to encourage friendships between local and international Texas A&M students and to promote dialogue in a focused but casual and intimate atmosphere.

Thinking and Creating Stage The first stage involved thinking and creating the project idea. Although there were some initial setbacks, this stage proved rewarding and we optimistically moved towards the preparation stage of the project. This stage highlighted the importance of compromise and specificity. Through compromise, we achieved a general concept of our project. Later, we specified our project to the concrete idea of a book club that would be a tangible way to achieve our most conceptual goals.

Case Study Many concerns associated with book, and we had to consider all possibilities. Some concerns included: short story versus textbook, continuous theme or individual stories, conceptual international relations themes versus concrete examples The short story was picked for specific reasons. The amount of reading would be significantly smaller, the distribution was made electronic, represents international culture well, short stories could be different each week yet adhere to the larger theme of the sessions

Planning and Preparation Stage The steps we took to prepare and plan the actual implementation of the project included: Selecting and obtaining copy of text used for discussions. Creating a Facebook group and distributing text electronically to participants Contacting the MSC Forsyth Galleries and scheduling times for our book club usage. Contacting friends, former and current AFIL students, MSC FLI, ISA, and Business Honors program to inform others of our project and how to be invovled Creating questions regarding readings ready to promote discussion among participants

Book Club Sessions The Week Two topic was cultural concepts of friendship, particularly the differences between Eastern and Western World ideas of friendship. The story we used was about an author who moved from London to Morocco, and, after some difficulty overcoming differences, became close friends with a local man. The topics of conversation included concepts of loyalty and reciprocity in different cultures, cultural ideas of altruism (some cultures value this idea of selflessness, others emphasis repaying one's debts of gratitude). Our final session, week four, talked about the author’s friendship with a local man who was a stamp collector. The local man was elderly, and he passed away after a short but enlightening friendship with the author. In this session we talked about personal and cultural beliefs about the meaning of life, as well as cultural reactions to sadness and tragedy. The first session topic was preserving cultural heritage. The story we featured was about a man who, in collaboration with the Qatari government, is collecting art and historical artifacts for a museum in Qatar. His work focuses especially on works pertaining to the history and heritage of Islam. Some of the areas of conversation included whether cultural history is important, how to balance preserving cultural heritage with investing in future generations as well as the differences in the importance of philanthropy and wealth in cultures. Our guests spoke to their experiences with Chinese culture, Nicaraguan culture, and German culture. The third week discussed the story of how the author left his home city of London to move to Morocco. The discussion centered around concepts of home, and the difference between the connection we feel to our ancestral homes and the geographic place of our births.

Success In evaluating this project in its entirety, we believe it has been a success. It has involved an international component through reading and discussing international culture. It impacted Texas A&M students, albeit a small group. Additionally, the project has the quality of being sustainable into the future. The project succeeded in all three major components detailed in the instructions. We had consistent participation throughout the four sessions, which facilitated deeper conversations as the program progressed. The stories we used often provoked different reactions from different people, and inspired dialogue about cultural values learned both from family life and from international travel.

Sustainability and Ways to Improve Without a doubt, this project is sustainable. The project could be renewed every year if that be the desire of future AFIL students. Additionally, this project is sustainable because it can be improved and can be refocused in a different direction. For example, instead of discussing international culture, a future book club could discuss international religion specifically or international perspectives on raising children. Ways to Improve Contact more organizations sooner. This will help with the initial attendance concerns. Involve the international perspective in dialogue, not just reading Find ways to increase attendance while maintaining integrity of small group feel and expression

International Leadership Challenge Project Presentation