30th Anniversary History Book

Beacon in Tuscany students visit Prato, Italy.

of the Greenburg-Graham School District. That’s a K-12 school district in New York state for residential students with learning disabilities and emotional challenges. Ziccolella, a Beacon board member emeritus, said his time at the college has been rewarding because of the slow, steady growth and watching students excel after they often had been discouraged while attending their previous schools. “These kids are great,” he said. “There’s a lot of success stories at Beacon.” Shelly Chandler joined the staff in 2003, too. Now Beacon’s provost, she started out teaching psychology and human services. She quickly honed in on the unique nature of the students and the atmosphere they created at Beacon.

Another major step in Beacon’s development occurred in 2000 when the college launched The Cultural Studies Abroad summer program. The offering kicked off with its first adventure, “Tale of Two Cities,” with students visiting Paris and London. The program’s name later was shortened to Travel Abroad to differentiate it from study abroad. Former vice president of academic affairs, Dr. Terry Murphy, broached the proposal. He believed students should be given the chance to travel and experience life outside of their comfort zone. Time management, building relationships, spending money wisely, confidence-building and improved self-awareness were among the goals of the project. Murphy now teaches at Lake- Sumter State College. Ross helped organize the first trip abroad but didn’t attend because of her summer fieldwork. Galyon, meanwhile, served as among the first mentor/chaperones and accompanied more than 30 students on a two-week trip through England,

Ireland, and Wales. Chandler has run the program since, taking groups of up to 40 on 14 different trips. The focus of the tours typically are cultural or historical, but also are used to scrutinize the environment or for scientific exploration, as was done during trips to the Galápagos Islands and Alaska. Other destinations included Spain, Russia, Sweden, Italy, Greece, England, Ireland, Australia, Hawaii, New Zealand, Poland, Hungary, Austria, Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia and Japan. Beacon expanded its global education menu in 2017 with a 12-week semester of study in Tuscany, Italy. Beacon’s academic host is the Prato campus of the Università degli Studi di Firenze (University of Florence). Each semester’s coursework is organized around a central theme, with instruction provided by both Beacon faculty and local educators and experts. Students live and study in the heart of Prato, a medieval city, with regular trips to various historic and contemporary sites of interest. So far, 76 students have spent a semester in Tuscany.

“They (students) have always been at the center of what we do,” she said. “They all have different learning styles.”

Dr. Shelly Chandler

PAGE 18