UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — More than 100 Penn State students spent their spring breaks traveling the globe through seven College of the Liberal Arts embedded programs, which are Penn State courses taken on campus or online that include a short-term, international travel component. The students saw the classroom come to life by visiting historical and cultural sites and interacting with local people.

Students taking CRIM 425 had the opportunity to travel to Curaçao as part of the "Organized Crime in Curaçao" embedded program in the College of the Liberal Arts. The course, taught by Howard Smith, associate teaching professor of criminology, explores the theoretical explanations behind the nature of law enforcement and organized crime. The seven-day trip allowed students to apply their studies in context and visit a local university to interact with its students.

While in Curaçao, geographically located off the coast of Venezuela, students had the opportunity to visit many local sites. They also swam with sea turtles at Playa Beach and took part in a sunset cruise overlooking Caracas Bay.

In addition to seeing Curaçao’s beauty, students discussed CRIM 425 topics that were presently affecting the area, such as drug smuggling, gang work and organized crime, in class lectures with Smith at the University of Curaçao. Penn State students took these lectures side-by-side with local students.

To help put criminology topics in perspective, students learned about the history of Curaçao’s native people and the building of its society. Working and learning together, students were able to compare Curaçao’s justice system with that of the United States and think about the interplay between culture and crime.

“I feel like this trip has put emphasis on the different lifestyles that the people we learned about in lecture live,” said Madison Crawford, a fourth-year criminology student from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. “Not only were we able to learn about the history of the island, but we were also able to learn about the many different cultures of the people who live there and how that can drive organized crime.”

Students were also able to talk to Curaçao professionals within the field of criminology about their experiences in the profession, as well as their takes on criminological theories. The class sat in on a court case, which offered a real-life account of current crimes and the law rulings, in addition to visiting other law-related locations.

“It was interesting to sit through a court case, hear both sides and observe how things are conducted,” said Caitlin Bertrand, a fourth-year student from Piscataway, New York, majoring in supply chain and information systems.

“This trip really helped put all the topics and main ideas into perspective,” said Laura Roncancio, a third-year student from Houston, Texas, majoring in international politics and criminology. “Hearing from individuals who have worked to combat organized crime in various areas helps visualize what it is that is happening all over the world in terms of organized crime. I now have a better understanding of what issues law enforcement may or may not be focusing on and just how far these crimes go in terms of the degree of the crime itself and who participates.”

Besides learning about criminology, students learned about their classmates more intimately in a setting outside of Penn State. Students said felt they had become closer to one another during their trip and looked forward to spending more time together outside of class after the trip.

“My favorite part of the trip was meeting all my classmates for the first time and being able to spend every moment with them. I can confidently say that we are now one big family,” Crawford said.

Many of the students on the trip received enrichment funding from the College of the Liberal Arts to support their international experience.

“The Liberal Arts enrichment funding ensured that travel expenses would not be a problem for me,” Crawford said. “It allowed me to not only pay for my passport, but it also allowed me to pay for my flight to Curaçao. The additional money went towards taxis while on the island.”

“The enrichment funding helped a lot with partially paying the class fee,” Roncancio said. “I didn’t have to stress as much with financing the rest of the trip.”

Roncancio expressed gratitude to have gone on the trip and to have been able to delve deeper into the subject of organized crime.

“I learned valuable knowledge that I can apply in understanding a sector of crime and how we can help rehabilitate individuals that fall into that pathway,” Roncancio said.

Bertrand said, “This trip has further enhanced my learning about CRIM 425 topics and ideas. Having guest speakers, visiting sites and having things visually shown to us really helped me understand much more of the crime within Curaçao and how their law enforcement works.”

Liberal Arts Career Enrichment Network

The Career Enrichment Network empowers Liberal Arts students to explore, engage and define their career journey through diverse career development opportunities. Students can meet with a career coach to explore careers, internships, education abroad, research, the Liberal Arts Alumni Mentor Program and more. Through donor support, the Career Enrichment Network is able to provide Liberal Arts students with funding to support many of these experiences.