Development Advisory Team helps students to take their classroom learning into practice, but how? Mentor, Jessica Peck (spring 2014 student) shares with Philisha Mesidor (spring 2016 student) about the importance of incorporating class learning into real-world projects. 

Philisha Mesidor: 

I was able to meet up with Jessica Peck (my mentor) in person and we sat down and discussed how she felt her class went and what tips she could pass along. She first started with the importance of researching and tailoring the project to one's client organization. We discussed how it is important to take all the lessons I learned in the first International Development in Practice class and use it to better this experience. Her second tip was to utilize the University funding, if possible. Jessica’s particular project used the funding to hire someone on the ground in-country instead of using it for their personal travel. This was a better route for their Development Advisory Team project because they would not have to worry about language barriers or not knowing enough about the culture. Lastly, we discussed what aspects of the course Jessica believed made the experience the best she had ever had academically. These are the three aspects:

  1. Each presenter should give a bit of a lecture (if only to give concrete information/introduction to the topic).
  2. As a group we should try to apply what we learned to DAT projects, if applicable, at the end of each class.
  3. Each student should spend time thinking and investing energy into both the topics and DAT projects. The more time spent going over the concepts and processing information, the clearer all the pieces fit and the more you get out of the class.
 

JESSICA PECK 

Development Advisory Team: Rubia, Mali 

"As the baby of the class, I'm still hanging around ND until May 2016 finishing my degree in Romance Languages and my IDS minor. So if anyone knows of any opportunities in the fields of development or sustainability...

I would say that the best part about this class is that a lot of the lessons learned are very broadly applicable. They will help you to think critically about development projects, but they will also help you in almost any field that you go into and countless situations you will encounter generally in life."