Westmont Magazine Westmont Relaunches Overseas Programs
by Kelly Vivanco ’24
After Westmont’s overseas programs shut down during the COVID-19 pandemic, Off-Campus Programs (OCP) happily relaunched several this fall. A cohort of 21 students participated in Westmont in Mexico with Professor Mary Docter, and 18 students studied with Chris and Cheri Larsen Hoeckley during England Semester. Additionally, 12 students attended affiliate programs in eight countries: France, Uganda, Spain, Austria, Italy, South Africa, the United Kingdom and New Zealand.
“OCP is used to working with Westmont’s Risk Management for overseas operations, but the COVID-19 pandemic posed unique challenges,” says Kim Notehelfer, assistant director of global education. “All our global education and study-abroad partners were shifting — and not just at Westmont. We were all having to figure this out, and it created more of a bond and a desire to know each other. We commiserated together, and I think it created a deeper connection.”
Fortunately, domestic programs such as Westmont in San Francisco continued during the pandemic; 12 students spent the semester in San Francisco this fall. “Students in these programs still enjoyed an off-campus experience,” Notehelfer says. “I’m thankful for our staff and our faculty. They went way beyond what we asked of them to make sure students were safe and to create a sense of community in the midst of wearing masks and taking all the other precautions.”
International travel resumed during the summer with three programs: Kinesiology Mayterm in the United Kingdom, London Theatre Mayterm, and Israel Mayterm. “They helped us get our feet wet while still navigating COVID,” Notehelfer says.
“I now have more joy in watching students abroad,” she says. “A desire to serve them undergirds all our work. I love seeing the process, but you appreciate it a lot more when it’s taken away. You appreciate how it benefits students and will change their lives.”
Erin Hardin ’23, who missed the chance to go to Israel in 2020, joined Israel Mayterm in 2022 under the direction of Sandra Richter, Robert Gundry professor of biblical studies. She learned valuable cross-cultural lessons during the trip. “I loved how unhurried Middle Eastern culture is,” she says. “Because of the heat, you walk, and you get there when you get there, or else you pass out. The understanding that life takes time and growth takes time is something I’m trying to bring back with me to Westmont — to keep with the natural pace of things. Writing takes time; assignments take time. I need a healthy amount of slowing down.”
Sam Johnston ’25, a sophomore who went on England Semester, also appreciates the value of experiencing a different culture. “Even though I traveled to an English-speaking country, Britain was different in ways I didn’t expect,” she says. “I’ve learned in ways that can only happen through experiencing another culture. My way of life isn’t the only way to live, and the world would be boring if it were! I want to learn as much as I can from the people and places I visit.
“Living in a foreign country has challenged me to become more independent and confident in my ability to navigate cities, cook meals, plan days, budget money — all valuable and practical ‘adulting’ skills.”
Kristiana Phillips ’23 expresses gratitude for the skills she developed during England Semester. “I’ve been learning how to live life in a way I’ll be very grateful for when I graduate,” she says.
She expressed deep admiration for the Hoeckleys and their example of living while abroad, one that balances work and travel with “gloriously peaceful rhythms” attending morning prayers at local churches and having a question sabbath: a day when both students and professors refrain from asking each other academic or program-related questions.
Mercy Milliken ’23, a Spanish and pre-med kinesiology double major, greatly valued Docter’s leadership in Mexico as well as the close relationships students developed with professors and with each other. “I enjoyed how well rounded the experience has been, from academics to cultural experiences to the growing relational bonds with my Spanish-speaking host family,” she says.
“I’ve been growing as a whole person and not just intellectually,” Milliken says. “Being here at the end of my time at Westmont has been really valuable for me, because I’ve already felt myself growing during college in a journey of self-awareness and identity formation.”
Having grown up in Seoul, Korea, and moving to the United States at age 15, Milliken values a new place to process her global identity. “I’ve been asking, ‘What does it mean to be me in Mexico? Where do I fit in the world?’”
Milliken thinks most students at Westmont experience identity growth, but OCP provides special opportunities internationally. “I left Mexico with a more assured sense of self and a better understanding of what it looks like to carry myself in different places, groups and environments: what carries on inside me and what it looks like to be me in all those places.”
Notehelfer and her colleagues seek to make such character growth and forming a global identity two of the many privileges possible again with the