CCU students travel to Norway for International Student Festival

Five students from the Politics and Global Studies programs at Coastal Carolina University participated in the 2013 International Student Festival in Trondheim (ISFIT) in Norway from Feb. 7 to 17.

Participating students Ashley Baker, Erin Bair, Jeremy Carroll, Dillon Ramsey and Brandon Reilly represented the United States and CCU, joining approximately 400 students from all over world. ISFIT, the world’s largest student gathering, brings together students from all the world’s continents to discuss and debate current global issues and help shape an agenda for the future.

The theme of this year’s ISFIT was “Trade.” Students were invited to submit essays on the subject. Out of the thousands of essay submissions, about 400 students are invited to Trondheim for the conference. In the past, this conference has featured such well-known speakers as the Dalai Lama, Desmond Tutu, Gro Harlem Brundtland and President Bill Clinton. This year, students heard from Vandana Shiva, a world-renowned ecologist, and John Hope Bryant, an American poverty eradication activist and co-founder of Global Dignity. In addition to hearing from the speakers, the students attend workshops, discussions and other cultural events.

The CCU students traveled to Trondheim with Richard Aidoo, an assistant professor of politics and a co-adviser of CCU’s global studies minor. Aidoo is a passionate believer that the International Student Festival in Trondheim offers a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for future leaders to interact with leaders of today.  

The CCU students received positive coverage in the Norwegian press, including a storyposted on the Norwegian Broadcasting Network's website http://www.nrk.no/nyheter/distrikt/nrk_trondelag/1.10903943.

Aidoo said the students proved themselves to be "intellectually and socially mature," and that the conference organizers heaped praise on the students, noting that they "changed[our]stereotypes about Americans."