NL
Nicholas LeGrand
  • Cape Girardeau, MO

Nicholas LeGrand Completes International Service Trip

2013 Jan 23

Service to the community extends more than a thousand miles beyond St. Louis for some St. Louis College of Pharmacy students. Nicholas LeGrand was among a group of 12 students who spent nine days building houses in Guatemala.

The College's Office of International Programs organized the trip as part of an international service learning course. The group spent much of their time building houses alongside future homeowners and local Habitat for Humanity volunteers in the town of Jutiapa. College professors Ken Schafermeyer and Tom and Mary Lou Zlatic led the team.

"Exposing our students to other cultures and other ways of thinking will help them understand their world better," says Schafermeyer, director of the College's Office of International Programs. "They'll understand their own values better and may develop new values and a new way of looking at the world."

Fourth-year student Danielle Fox wrote a blog during the trip. She talked about everything from unusual traffic jams to learning that scorpions like to hide in cement blocks. She even mentioned a trip to a local "Farmacia."

"Service learning trips give you a total sense of true reality," Fox wrote. "What people are actually dealing with in other parts of the country...really makes you think."

About St. Louis College of Pharmacy: Founded in 1864, St. Louis College of Pharmacy is the fourth oldest and 10th largest college of pharmacy in America. The College integrates the liberal arts and sciences with a professional curriculum and introductory and advanced practice experiences where students can develop expertise and become leaders in the profession and their communities. Beginning in 2014, the seven-year curriculum leading to a Doctor of Pharmacy (Pharm.D.) degree will also include a Bachelor of Science. The College admits students directly from high school and accepts transfer students and graduates from other colleges and universities. More than 1,250 students are currently enrolled from 30 states and several countries. Additional information is available at www.stlcop.edu.