Past Programs

The short clip above is a Spanish-English video created by Hilton Braithwaite IV as a part of his Service-Learning project for the Casa Familiar, an orphanage for males with disabilities. He worked alongside his classmates and Casa Familiar to help create a Spanish-English language program for the members of the orphanage at their educational level and ability.

Public Health & Sociolinguistics Summer Semester 2015

Since 2015, Connect2Bolivia has been a Pitt Panther program with the University of Pittsburgh (Pitt). There has been Spring, Summer, and Fall Semester programs as well as Spring Break University Faculty visits for developing programs.

Conect2Bolivia works closely with Pitt to make all programs a reality by establishing safe lodging, dinning, classrooms, inter-city field trips and cultural activities, excursions, guest lectures, flights, Bolivian professors, visas, transportation, etc. Together we work to create a long-lasting and impactful program for the students and Bolivians.

Please note that all Pitt in Bolivia programs are open to non-Pitt students.

Environmentalism Spring Break 2016

The course focused on environmentalism in Bolivia in comparison to the United States. With the help of Connect2Bolivia, the course was divided into an environmental theme each day such as Education, Water, Health, Energy, Agriculture, and Biodiversity.

Connect2Bolivia created contacts with local guest lectures, cultural activity centers, field trips, and excursions that successfully related to each environmental theme.

Cultural Studies & Sociolinguistics Summer Semester 2016

During this six-week program, students enrolled in six to nine credits selecting from several subject areas: Bolivian Contemporary Society, Sociolinguistics, and/or the Indigenous Language Quechua.

All classes offered filed components such as day trips to health clinics, colonial towns, and markets. Additionally, students visited Salar de Uyuni, where they experienced the world-famous salt flats, breathtaking sites, and animals such as llamas and pink flamingos.

Senior Citizen & Independent Traveler Program

Connect2Bolivia has a variety of programs depending on your interests and desires in Bolivia. Throughout the years, we have hosted independents who wish to volunteer at local centers to focus on language fluency, no matter the starting level. We have also hosted travelers, who have simply wished to travel throughout Bolivia. Our goal is not only to organize traveling plans but also to allow travelers to experience the cultural diversity of Bolivia. Each program is especially tailored to your needs.

In 2017, we hosted an independent, who was studying medicine in the United States. He came to Bolivia to volunteer and intern at a local hospital in Cochabamba. Connect2Bolivia helped guide him on his personal professional growth as we connected him with local public and private hospitals. Also, he was able to work alongside a Bolivian Shaman to uncover the differences between Western and Traditional Medicine.

In 2022, our Senior Citizen package sent a group to the Amazon in Madidi, Bolivia. Here, the group enjoyed hiking in Bolivia’s largest Amazonian jungle, fished for piranhas, sighted crocodiles, monkeys, insects, birds, and pumas! Finally, the adventure comes to an end with a farewell ceremonial dance and dinner with the native indigenous community.

Service-Learning & Linguistics Semester 2018

After seeing different interests from students, Pitt and Connect2Bolivia successfully developed a two-track sustainable Service-Learning & Linguistics Program. Although Spanish is not a pre-requisite for the program, students are also enrolled into a three-credit Spanish Language course. For more information on the Service-Learning course, please read titled section: Contemporary Issues & Service Learning in Bolivia.

Contemporary Issues & Service-Learning in Bolivia

The Service-Learning track is embedded in engagement, reflection, reciprocity, and public dissemination. The core principals of Service-Learning are exercised throughout the program to insure a meaningful experience for the students as well as the Bolivian community.

Students are placed on project teams based on their skills and abilities. They are encouraged and guided to identify a sustainable project that meets the needs of the organization. Previous participants utilized their skills and knowledge to craft and create meaningful projects related to their academic and professional interests. For example, Education, ESL, ASL, Natural Sciences, Computer Science, Spanish, Liberal Arts, Environmental Science and Pre-Health placements are available. Students from other academic fields are also encouraged to participate.

Indigenous Languages and Linguistics in Bolivia

The Language Track exemplifies a rare case of stable Quechua-Spanish bilingualism, a strong connection between language and indigenous identity, and a place in which language policies are put into practice and negotiated by residents. Cochabamba offers a unique environment in which to study the connection between language and society. The course is on multilingualism, language contact and change, language ideologies, bilingual education, language revitalization, and the role of language in the state. This course is taught by Professor Alana de Lodge from Pitt Main as well as Professor David Pereira Herrera from San Simon University, Bolivia.

Student Teaching Semester

This program is for Education Majors. It allows student educators to be placed at an international school in Bolivia such as the American International School Bolivia (AISB) and Calvert Cochabamba Cooperative School (CCS). Connect2Bolivia works closely with each student and school to allow for a perfect placement whether it be in Primary and/or Secondary School. The schools are mainly taught in English with several Spanish courses offered. Throughout the years, we have had student teachers teaching Elementary Spanish as well as History to English. Students also were able to adventure to the Amazon and to the Altiplanos of Bolivia.

Please note that each State in the United States of America has different credit and contact hour requirement for student teaching program. Please do not hesitate to contact us!

For more information visit: https://abroad.pitt.edu/boliviastudentteaching

Infection Diseases & Cultural Studies Semester 2022 – Present

The course explores the infectious diseases throughout Bolivia and Latin America. It is a faculty-led program taught by Dr. Jill Henning, a professor of Biology with an emphasis on immunology from the University of Pittsburgh (UPJ). Students study and examen the different diseases and virus in Bolivia from the tropical lowlands to the altiplano highlands. The students have first-hand experiences visiting centers and hospitals that treat these diseases. They also meet with doctors, local professors, and a shaman to understand the different ways in which these diseases are treated and viewed in Bolivia. Students also engage in a one credit Spanish Level Course as well as take a Cultural Studies course with David Pereira Herrera, an Anthropologist and Archeologist from San Simon University and a Fulbright recipient from Cornell University.
https://www.abroad.pitt.edu/bolivia

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