In hopes to develop a better education system in Haiti, The Open Society Foundation has sponsored Haitian professors to visit EARTH University to study their education model. EARTH professors will train these Haitians in developing a new academic model for them to implement at their own university.

Learn about other projects the OSI Foundation has sponsored for Haitian and African students to study at EARTH: http://bit.ly/ajHgAt.

Ph.D. candidate, Milan Michalek, from Czech Republic, will be at EARTH for four months, conducting research on organic compost.  His research includes using EM and Signma Gold for making compost and Bokachi, as well as making comparisons between composting methods in Latin America and Czech Republic.  His aim is to find the best way to use waste from orchards and vineyards by the end of his stay at EARTH.

Today, students from the National Institute of Agriculture in Panama begin working on EARTH’s organic farm. Leidyana de León and Edmundo Caballero will be here until the end of November.

Volunteers from Hewlett-Packard joined EARTH professors and students to plant over 3,000 trees on Saturday.

The event signified their commitment to carbon neutrality, an extension to a project began in 2008, where EARTH and HP committed themselves to a three-year reforestation project in Costa Rica.

Learn more about the project in HP’s brief Global Citizenship Report: http://www.hp.com/hpinfo/globalcitizenship/08gcreport/employees/volunteerism.html

On Friday, the Atlanta INtown Paper featured an article about EARTH University and its unique projects.  The publication applauded EARTH for its work in “providing education for deserving young people who lack the financial resources to attend college,” and explained the benefits of EARTH’s internship programs.

The article also discusses the relationship between Georgians and EARTH University. The EARTH University Foundation, which supports “the education vision of EARTH through gifts, contributions…and other initiatives,” was formed in Buckhead, Georgia in 1989, and remains there today.  In November, the Foundation will host a trail race to benefit EARTH.  The Foundation also hosts and assists in other local events, such as organic potluck dinners, to benefit EARTH.

EARTH’s presence in the Atlanta area is ever-growing.  Right now, there are two EARTH grads working at Bland Farms in Glennville, Georgia, overseeing the company’s “sustainable farming and practices and green initiatives.”  Also, three EARTH students are interning in different parts of Georgia. See the article in the Atlanta INtown for more information about what these students are doing: http://bit.ly/cKxrT9.

Together, EARTH University and the Monteverde Institute (http://www.mvinstitute.org/index.html) are creating a whole new course about agro-tourism.  Students participating in this course will have the opportunity to visit different agro-touristic sites, receive classes, exchange with university students from different countries and live in a local family, learn about the Latin culture and improve their Spanish.  The course will be offered in May, for a period of six weeks.

Soon, more details will be announced….be prepared!

One of our three new interns for a semester abroad is Ive Eddy, from Kansas in the U.S.A.  She is studying sustainable agriculture at Colorado State University.  While with us, she is taking the courses about tropical animal production, aquaculture, and tropical crops.  She will also conduct an independent study on Biochar, a soil amendment.

“My impression of the university has changed as little by little I get used to the classes and atmosphere.  It couldn’t be more different from Colorado State, with well over 25,000 students in the city of Fort Collins, CO.  The vast majority of students live in apartments and houses.  At EARTH, all of the less than 500 students live in dorms on campus (in the country), and most professors live less than a mile (1.5 kilometers) down the road.  This is just an example; the learning approach is totally different as well.

My overall impression has been molded by the students, who are the most genuine, dedicated, welcoming people I have ever met.  I have every reason to believe that I am meeting the leaders of our future here.  It is amazing that  students from all over Africa, Mexico, South America, Central America, and other regions can put aside cultural, economic and personal differences to work toward this common goal.  This is easily one of the biggest challenges of my life, but I have learned more in the last month- about culture, the tropics, stereotypes- than I ever could have hoped to at CSU.  I am forever grateful to the Gilman Scholarship Foundation for making this experience possible.” Ive

You’ll know more about our third intern soon…..

We have three new interns for the whole semester.

Miguel Solis is one of them.  He is studying Engineering in Agronomy at the University Juavez Autonoma de Tabasco, in Mexico.  He decided to spend one of his semester with us, at EARTH University.  He’s taking the courses Irrigation and Drainage, Pest and Disease, Tropical Crops, and experiences in Forestry and Organic Farm.

“El caminar por los pasillos y escuchar a los pájaros, ver armadillos, tucanes, venados por el campus, aprender con personas de varios partes del mundo es una experiencia que solo se vive en la EARTH.” Miguel Solis

You’ll learn more about our other two interns soon…..

Northeastern University blogs about student’s visit to EARTH.  This program is just one of the many examples of customized programs the Office of International Academic Programs helps to coordinate. http://www.northeastern.edu/news/stories/2010/08/Costa_Rica.html

As this year’s second trimester came to an end on Friday, we we were sad to say goodbye to some of our international students and interns.  We would like to take the time to recognize the following for their contributions to EARTH:

• Julia Mjelva, Norway, Study Abroad Student
• Charlotte Jensen, Norway, Study Abroad Student
• Hakkon Celius, Norway, Study Abroad Student
• Ruth Graf, Switzerland, Independent Study
• Asmaa Abdel-Azim, Michigan, USA, Community Development Intern
• Noemie Sierra, Maryland, USA, General Environmental Studies Intern

EARTH University thrives from multi-national input from participants like these.  We are positive these bright students will have a successful academic and future.