Most college students relish their Winter Break, the time between the end of Fall Semester final exams and the start of Spring Semester. A few weeks at home, meeting up with old friends, and relaxing with family are what most students need to recharge their batteries for the remainder of the academic year.
But that’s not the case for all students. In December, 19 Drury students from the Breech School of Business and Hammons School of Architecture joined Dr. Gehan Dhameeth, Associate Dean & Associate Professor of Marketing at Breech, on a trip to his native Sri Lanka as part of Drury’s long-standing Study Abroad program.
And while the students took in the beauty and culture of the South Asian island located just off the southeast coast of India, they were much more than tourists.
Sri Lanka is home to as many as 7,500 wild elephants, which are protected in Sri Lanka. And while those elephants are beautiful and majestic, they can also be a nuisance for the farming community. That’s where the Drury students came in.
“There is a specific location of Sri Lanka which we call Habarana,” Dr. Dhameeth said. “That’s where the highest numbers of human-elephant conflict exists. I took the students there to help the farmers who are affected by elephant attacks. They learned about the natural techniques the farmers use to keep elephants away and chase them out in order to safeguard their crops.
“We also learned from researchers about the behavior of the elephant, how human beings should avoid conflicts with them, and the strategies that they use.”
In helping be a part of the solution, the students also learned more about global farming techniques and supply chain operations in a developing nation.
“Our students technically helped the farmers plant their crops and pack them up in the initial stages of the supply chain,” Dr. Dhameeth said. “They were able to understand the difference between the labor-intensive process in a country like Sri Lanka versus automated processes like what we have here in the United States.”
The students were so taken with the trip and the entirety of the experience that, for many, it won’t be their last visit.
“Several of the students said they want to go back and do it again,” Dr. Dhameeth shared. “Several of them have already promoted this trip to their parents, and now the parents are asking how to contact local partners to arrange their own similar trip.”
As one might imagine, getting from Springfield to Sri Lanka isn’t easy. Dr. Dhameeth and his student contingent traveled for 34 straight hours, making stops in St. Louis, Toronto, and London before finally touching down in Colombo, the Sri Lankan capital, for their 8-day stay.
The students making the trip were: Loreli Fronabarger, Annika Gabel, Brady Horton, Jase Howard, Camden Kozikoski, Branden Lowe, Jake Lyons, Brendan Moehle, Vishanta Patterson, Riley Petrone, Ways Raasch, Elijah Roberts, Kyle Romanewicz, Thomas Shuster, Aidan Spaulding, Abby Stunja, Noah Wells, Jase White, and Danielle Buker.
“It wasn’t an easy trip; they had to do all of the work,” Dr. Dhameeth said. “They seemed to enjoy it. Several students commented that it was an experience they never expected to have.”
And one they won’t soon forget.