Expansion and Equity at the Trek Culture Module Fair 2025

“Culture” is one of the goals used in Centenary’s Trek program, and Thursday, Oct. 2, was the Trek Culture Module Fair held in the Whited Room during lunchtime. Eleven different booths were set up by different faculty members with places from right here on campus to all the way in Australia. With students from seniors to freshmen either trying to figure out where they want to go this May or just getting a head start on ideas for where they will want to go in the future.

At the fair there were different domestic and international options. Dr. Kyra Rietveld and Ms. Alissa Klaus are planning a module called “GLAM-orous Shreveport: Shaping the Identity of a City.” GLAM stands for galleries, libraries, archives, and museums, and they are all things that are accessible at Centenary or in Shreveport for local field trips. The goal of the course is to show how GLAM shapes the local culture in Shreveport. They also planned for the class to work for any number of students so that any student could afford to do a module or just stay in the area if that is what they want. 

Dr. Jeff Hendrix is hosting a module called “France: Americans in Paris,” which is one of the abroad options for students to pick from. He takes students back to Paris, and his goal is for students to do all of the things they wanted to do but may have missed out on during Centenary in Paris. He also states that Americans can learn a lot about the world just through Paris. “You can study Western civilization from the Romans to the present just in Paris.” If students can only go abroad to one place, then he recommends the expansiveness of Parisian culture.

Catherine Walsh is the director of Global Engagement at Centenary and she was the one who coordinated the fair. The “culture” part of the Trek program has been done for over thirty years. Walsh explains the goal of the credit is to “expand your awareness” and “expand your truth.” She finds it important to be able to connect yourself and your experience with places outside of your community and to realize that your own culture is not the only one that is right. It’s about giving students the opportunity to widen their perspectives of the world.

One thing Walsh is very passionate about in her work is getting down barriers for Pell-eligible or lower-income students and making sure that they are able to travel where they want. She also states that another one of her goals is “the decolonization of our programming;” she wants to keep an awareness of the privilege that we have as travelers and to be “thoughtful about historical legacies of oppression” in some of the countries we may visit. She also hopes the program will be able to expand to other non-European countries, especially ones in the global south. She mentions she spent ten years in Egypt and knows how important and enriching an experience like that can be for some students.

This goal connects back into the expansion of opportunities for students on campus who might not get to travel otherwise. Walsh also values the connection she makes with students while helping them try to reach their goal. She says that that vulnerability from students “helped illuminate for me a real need for students on campus,” and one of her missions is to be an advocate for students to help bring equity to the program.

For students traveling this May term or summer for their culture credit module, sign-ups will be the final week of October and students will be able to rank their choices and disclose any other information regarding travel capabilities. Preferences will be matched and the results will be announced right before Thanksgiving Break for students to know where they are headed off to this spring or summer.