Study Abroad: It's More Than Business as Usual in Yucatán

Gus Gordon (light blue shirt), owner of Operadora Gonso Azul, speaks on how to run a Mexican business with Else School of Management professor Harvey Fiser's (dark blue shirt) class inside the Merida, Yucatán based sewing factory.
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Latin American music thumps overhead as six Millsaps College students weave their way through sewing equipment, fabric and laborers in a 250 yard-long facility at Ganso Azul ("Blue Goose") in Merida, Mexico. The students are part of a Global Business course taught by Associate Professor of Business Law Harvey Fiser.
The January 2012 intercession in Mexico offered students the opportunity to see a maquilladora, one of numerous assembly-line factories functioning under the terms of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Maquilladoras typically are owned by American, European or Asian investors. Ganso Azul produces 500 styles of law enforcement uniforms, including ones shipped to Mississippi and Texas.
The 15-day intercession has exceeded students' expectations. "It's the best study abroad experience I've ever had," said senior Drew Moroux of Lafayette, La. The students also participate in excursions to a gold factory and a cucumber farm, as well as to the Mayan ruins located at Kaxil Kiuic, Millsaps College's 4,500-acre biocultural reserve in Yucatán.
Millsaps Mentor Programs Provide Invaluable Experience
When Casey Holloway, a senior religious studies/sociology major from Hammond, Louisiana, leaves her contemporary sociological theory class every Tuesday morning, she dons scrubs and heads to the operating room at Mississippi Baptist Medical Center, just a few blocks from campus. She is one of many pre-health students at Millsaps who participates in the College's unique medical mentoring program. The program pairs current undergraduates with medical professionals, many of whom are Millsaps alumni, for a semester-long experience.
Casey shadows Millsaps alum Dr. J. Russell Rooks ('82), a general surgeon, both in the operating room and clinic. She has previously shadowed physicians in the fields of family medicine and pediatrics, but she chose to work with a surgeon this semester to gain experience in the technical aspect of medicine.
"The inside of the human body is the most amazing, most incredible, most awe-inspiring thing I have ever seen," says Holloway. "The hours I spend observing in the operating room feel like minutes. As a result of this mentorship, I am seriously considering surgery as a career option."
A Tradition of Service and Engagement

Freshmen Cheryl and Kevin Cole, brother and sister, prepare lunches to be delivered in Jackson's Midtown neighborhood for the Meals with Wheels program.
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Forty-six freshmen arrived on campus this fall eager to embrace John Wesley's thoughts, "Do all the good you can. By all the means you can. In all the ways you can. In all the places you can. At all the times you can. To all the people you can. As long as ever you can."
The freshmen participate in the Wellspring Program, where they live together in a residence hall and engage in a year-long service commitment, as well as large-group service projects and monthly community-building and civic reflection activities.
The program, part of the College's 1 Campus, 1 Community Center for Engaged Learning and Living, began in 2006 and helps first-year students connect with their new community in Jackson. During October, they helped build a home for Habitat for Humanity.
"Wellspring is an incredible opportunity and eye-opening experience," said Austin Deskewies, a Wellspring resident assistant. "I think it gives freshmen a perspective on the community that they have never experienced before."