Video tells cold, hard truth: Students had fun
Written By: Steve Eaton
There are a number of video tapes that will soon be hidden away at the Utah State University Jon M. Huntsman School of Business because I’m not sure I want anyone to see them.
You see, I’m the director of communications there, which means I’m the PR guy for the college. By the time you read this, I hope I will have just returned safely from a five-week trip through Chile, Brazil, and Peru with 42 students from the Jon M. Huntsman School of Business .
It’s been an amazing trip. With the help of some very patient students, we’ve been shooting video for the Jon M. Huntsman School of Business every step of the way. My hope was that this video would help me make the case to nonbelievers that this trip was an innovative and effective way for our students to gain valuable and direct international experience that will help prepare them for life in our ever-shrinking global neighborhood.
It’s just that the video I have doesn’t seem to show enough academic suffering. Everyone appears to be having way too good a time.
For example, just today Chris Fawson, senior associate dean for academic and international affairs, was giving the students a final talk about how impressed he has been with their progress and how pleased he was that no one had been arrested, killed, maimed, or seriously injured. We’d just listened to several student teams give detailed presentations on the service work they had done in Peru.
Then Fawson deviated from his expected motivational speech and suggested everyone stand up and hug his or her neighbor. The startling chaos of mass hugging, laughter, and celebration that ensued is also on my tape. If anyone were to see that part of the tape, they’d suspect drugs, the birth of a new cult, or both.
They might overlook the presentations given by the three teams of students who helped more than 800 people by staffing an eye-glass clinic for a nonprofit organization called The Hope Alliance. The footage from these clinics shows our students treating each person with respect and compassion.
Other groups reported on their diligent efforts to help a number of humble entrepreneurs who want to launch businesses of their own with a micro loan. We came armed with more than $30,000 in micro-loan seed money raised by the students at Utah State University. The type of market research and detailed business plans the students created for these people as they analyzed their proposals was impressive indeed.
One group of students met with five micro-lending organizations to establish contacts and offered recommendations on which ones would make good partners for future micro-lending efforts. I have a video full of business presentations that includes footage of Excel sheets, charts, outlines and analysis perfect for the type video of I envisioned. Then Fawson had to go and spark a Woodstock-style celebration right smack dab in the middle of the tape.
I’m really worried about the bungee-jumping video. How will I explain why a dignified, respected, 60-year-old accountant and senior associate dean, Cliff Skousen, is bungee jumping or why we have pictures of Professor Marianna Larsen hang-gliding over Rio de Janeiro? How will I explain the video I have of students singing the Aggie fight song atop Waynu Picchu, the peak that towers over Machu Picchu?
I have video footage of hours of meetings the students attended in Chile, Brazil, and Peru with academic, business, and government leaders that gave them insight into the economic, cultural, and historical backgrounds of the countries we visited. With my luck, however, someone would steal one of the other tapes and they’d end up with footage of students singing raucous, off-tune songs on the bus, led by Business Senator Eddie Norton. They’d never believe that we had just taken a informative tour through a water-treatment plant.
The truth is that this group, in many ways, has been quite inconsiderate of me and my needs. These Jon M. Huntsman School of Business students are so stuck on the big picture that they haven’t had the basic decency to look stressed and worn out. All I have is have is hours and hours of video of people having way too much fun for an academic experience.
I’m not too sure what to do about this. Maybe I’ll need to go on the next Jon M. Huntsman School of Business trip to South America and try again to get some more appropriate footage. And don’t even start with some babble about what a cushy, cool job I have. I don’t want to hear it. Coming down here involves sacrifice and hard work. It does. Really. I swear it does.