When Dr. Mat Gendle first became involved with Project Pericles, the program looked different. A Professor of Psychology and Project Pericles Program Director at Elon University, Gendle first supported the Periclean Scholars Program as a faculty mentor. A three-year cohort-based learning model, the program invites students to support a community abroad under a Faculty Mentor’s direction.
At the time, the Periclean Scholars program had an orientation toward volunteer service. Students met their partner communities once during three weeks of their senior year. However, Gendle saw room for potential. After assuming leadership of the program in 2015, he believed the program could be more intentional about student-community partnership.
“We transitioned to a model where the entire cohort no longer travels together just once. Rather, subsets of the group now travel after their sophomore, junior, and senior years,” Gendle said. Past cohort projects include producing a documentary based on interviews in Cuba, supporting an NGO in Sri Lanka, and supporting a grant writing project that raised $750,000 for a child advocacy nonprofit in South Dakota.
Historically, students and community partners viewed their projects as long-term and perpetual. Concerned about the sustainability of these expectations, Gendle and Co-Director Amanda Tapler modified the nature of the program.
“It’s not reasonable to expect students to remain involved after graduation,” he said. They pivoted to creating projects time-bound to a 2.5 year window. When appropriate, the partnership can continue. But leveling expectations with community partners is critical. “I try to be very intentional and open with communications with folks. We don’t have money to give. We don’t have a lot of skills, but what we can do is listen. We’re not coming in to do new things,” Gendle said.
Gendle emphasizes support for their partners’ communities in other ways. “We follow the fair trade learning models,” he said. In practice, that looks like utilizing hyper-local providers. Local partners provide counsel to the Faculty Mentors about vendor selection. Decisions such as opting for home stays over international hotels not only offer cost-effective measures but also promote the local economy.
Fostering relationships with the program’s community partners is a trust-building exercise. “We’re working in communities that have been exploited,” Gendle said. One community partner appeared suspicious the first time he had reached out. However, time and meetings allowed the walls to fall. “We were able to overcome that over time by following through with commitments.”
Despite the fiscal demands of the program – which require careful planning to balance their Faculty Mentors’ course distributions – Gendle remains optimistic about the program’s future. As he finishes the last few years of his term, he continues to brainstorm with Amanda Tapler ways to expand program impact and ensure its sustainability. They have even explored different cohort lengths and inclusion of graduate students.
But regardless of the particular program configurations, the community partners will remain at the center. “If we have a partnership that’s working well, we try to continue it.”