Dr. Graham Boorse, life science faculty, started running endurance races with Team World Vision to raise funds to help support clean water and sanitation projects across Africa.
MESA, Ariz. – Nov. 15, 2018 Mesa Community College professors are sharing with students their experiences volunteering in Africa. Dr. Graham Boorse, life science faculty, and Jennifer Wood, math and honors faculty coordinator, at their own expenses, devoted time this past summer to humanitarian endeavors in Africa.
Boorse has been teaching MCC students about the role of microbes in public health for nearly a decade including the fact that the lack of clean water and poor sanitation contributes to 1,200 deaths of children under age 5 each day. Three years ago, he started running endurance races with Team World Vision to raise funds to help support clean water and sanitation projects across Africa. After a 56-mile race this past summer, he traveled to Ethiopia to visit the communities benefitting from these life-saving projects. He points out that he is able to provide students real world, global health perspectives. For one of his recent assignments, students are researching an infectious disease not found in the United States, so they learn not only about the microorganism, but also about the regions and people who struggle with the diseases.
Jennifer Wood, math and honors faculty coordinator, volunteers with Mothers Without Borders in Zambia.
Nationally recognized for teaching and leadership, Wood encourages her students to seek opportunities to teach and learn, and exemplifies this through projects such as her two-week humanitarian trip this past summer with Mothers Without Borders in Zambia. The organization provides assistance to hundreds of orphaned children and offers free education where there is often a prohibitive fee. Wood said they read to or play games with the children. She brought back to MCC students a first-hand view of education in other countries, which includes enthusiasm for American methods of engaging math activities instead of rote memorization and the reality that many children around the world, even in developed countries, do not enjoy the educational opportunities that are offered by community colleges.
Sharing first-hand international knowledge reflects the MCC mission to excel in teaching, learning, and empowering individuals to succeed in our local and global community.
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Contact: Dawn Zimmer, (480) 461-7892, Dawn.Zimmer@mesacc.edu
Mesa Community College is nationally recognized for service-learning, career and technical programs, civic engagement and innovative approaches to education. The college serves as a resource for career readiness, transfer education, workforce development and lifelong learning. Host to 30,000 students annually, MCC offers more than 195 degree and certificate programs at its two campuses and additional locations. MCC is an emerging Hispanic Serving Institution with a diverse student body that enriches the learning experience. Award-winning faculty are dedicated to student success, providing the education and training that empowers MCC students to compete locally and globally. MCC, located in the East Valley of Phoenix, Arizona, is one of the 10 colleges that comprise the Maricopa County Community College District. For additional information, visit mesacc.edu.
Mesa Community College is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission (HLC).
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