100th Voyage Returns to San Diego after 109-Day Voyage Around the World

December 14, 2009: The Fall 2009 voyage of Semester at Sea, the 100th in the program's 46-year history, returned safely to the Port of San Diego after a 109-day voyage around the world that included 11 countries, the academic theme "Globalization and The Post-American/Flat World", and an international service-learning project called the $100 Solution.

"As our 100th voyage has returned we're reminded of the importance and value that a global educational experience has for students," said Les McCabe, president of the Institute for Shipboard Education. "With every voyage, we're making sure young people develop a global perspective through an exploratory process. It is both eye opening and life changing for them."

Marshall Minors waved excitedly as he watched the MV Explorer come into the dock. Minors traveled from Bermuda to welcome his daughter, Rochelle, back from her semester abroad. "This is such an important experience for any student. I know she has learned so much and has gotten so much out of it," Minors said. He plans to spread the word about Semester at Sea when he returns to Bermuda, to encourage more students to enroll.

"SAS is no typical study abroad program," said Kelli Hagan, who attends University of San Diego. "Each stop is a completely different world. You get the chance to compare different cultures and explore places you may not ever have considered going to. I feel like this program has given me a better perspective as an American student."

"Classes on the ship demand students' full attention, but they find that it's well worth it," said Robert Chapel, the Fall 2009 academic dean and a professor at the University of Virginia, the academic sponsor of Semester at Sea. "The students make connections to different parts of the world. The kind of exposure they have inspires fresh ways of thinking and feeling."

This year, in honor of the program's 100th voyage, students also had the opportunity to do something good for the communities they visited by participating in the $100 Solution. The student-directed initiative helps people and communities through small acts of sustainable giving. SAS students put $100 toward a cause of their choosing after researching the service-learning projects and then implementing them in the countries.

"The $100 Solution project really honors the SAS mission," said Zubin Davar, an SAS alum and board president for the $100 Solution. "The project is really meaningful, not just because you are doing something good for people in need, but because it makes you think. You can't just be the big American coming in, forcing your idea of a project on the community and leaving. You have to ask what's best for them. And you have to listen."

In Hong Kong, SAS students planned and taught an ESL class for elderly residents. In Chennai, India, they bought crutches for a local hospital to help children suffering from cerebral palsy learn to walk and specially designed tables and chairs so therapists could work with several children at a time. In Accra, Ghana, the students used the funds to buy and install fans in six unventilated classrooms in a junior high school. Watch the students discuss their experiences.