August 20, 2008 UNC Global News

Service plays an important role at UNC-Chapel Hill. Hundreds of organizations provide opportunities for students to get out in the community and the world, donating their time.

One such organization is the APPLES (Assisting People in Planning Learning Experience in Service) Service Learning Program, which provides students with an avenue for giving back to the surrounding communities, as well as connecting them to communities throughout the world. In 2007-08 APPLES had 1,745 participants who clocked 57,937 volunteer hours all over the world. This included students going to countries like Mexico and South Africa, along with many students who served within the U.S.

In the fall 2008 semester, one student will be blazing a new trail for APPLES. Cameron Wardell, a UNC sophomore from Annapolis, Md., will be the first student to participate in a Global Service-Learning Project in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

“I’m a guinea pig for the program,” Wardell said with a laugh. “I’m very excited about the opportunity to help APPLES build this program.”

While in Vietnam, Wardell will have an internship with the Institution of International Education and will take classes, including a Vietnamese language course.

“At my internship I’ll be helping with curriculum issues and trying to encourage Vietnamese students to go to American colleges,” Wardell said. “The service part of the trip will be the volunteering 15-20 hours a week at the internship and also doing weekend projects.”

Wardell’s internship will be “a lot of behind the scenes work.” He said he will be making presentations and assisting in preparing students and educators for college in American college experience.

“I’ll be helping teachers with presentations about the college admissions process, including the SAT, FAFSA and the ACT,” he said. “They just don’t know much about it because they’ve never had to deal with it before.”

Wardell, who grew up in Japan, said the opportunity to serve in Vietnam was an offer he could not refuse. A major selling point for him is the immersion in Vietnamese culture that he will experience.

“I’m going to have a Vietnamese roommate and I’ll be living in Ho Chi Minh City,” he said. “I’m really excited about the Vietnamese roommate because it will definitely help immerse me in the language and the culture. The locals will be awesome. I didn’t want to go somewhere where I was going to party the whole time and just get a touristy look.”

Moving his life to Vietnam for a semester is an enticing possibility for Wardell.

“I’m excited about living my life there,” Wardell said. ”Having those interpersonal relationships will definitely make it fun. I’m looking forward to having that local coffee shop and that local store where I always go.”

A major deterrent for some students is the cost of international programs such as this one. But, Wardell said, there is no shortage of scholarship money available to students who are interested in studying in Asia.

“The Phillips Ambassadors Program gave me a very generous award so that I could participate,” Wardell said.

The Phillips Ambassadors Program provides scholarships for students interested in studying abroad in Asia. There are over 40 programs students can choose from, including 10 programs in China and 11 in India.

Another critical component of APPLES’s Global Service-Learning program is what happens when the students returns from their destinations. Returning students enroll in a reflection seminar called “Connections” in which they engage in local service-learning with newly arrived immigrants.

“When I return to Chapel Hill, I’ll be volunteering 15-20 hours a week with the local Vietnamese community,” Wardell said. “This will help me keep up the Vietnamese language that I will be learning while abroad.”

Wardell has been involved with the APPLES organization for some time. Even before attending UNC, he began volunteering and learning about service opportunities that APPLES provides.

“The summer before college I participated in APPLES’s Service-Learning Initiative,” he said. “I got selected and started volunteering at Carrboro Girls and Boys Club, Carrboro Elementary, and Habitat for Humanity in Durham.”

The Service-Learning Initiative is APPLES’ way of starting first-year students’ college experience off on the right foot. Students participate in a three-day summer program that introduces students to local volunteer opportunities, as well as helping them get to know the campus and the area.

Wardell has also participated in the APPLES’s alternative fall break program, which sends students on a service experience during the university’s fall break. He will also serve as “media specialist” upon his return in the spring.

For more information about APPLES, check out their Web site: http://www.unc.edu/apples/ .

More information on the Phillips Ambassadors Scholarship can be found at their Web site (http://studyabroad.unc.edu/phillips/).

- Story by Andrew Cummings ‘10