By Caitlyn Morral
Staff Writer
Bonaventure students are about to get a taste of Haiti.
This semester, St. Bonaventure has decided to host 20 Haitian students. The Haitian group will be at the university from Sept. 23 until Oct. 12.
The students are staying for three weeks as a new branch of BonaResponds, called “Bonas and Beyond.” This program, “Bonas and Beyond: Haiti,” aims to create a cultural experience for students from Haiti, according to the program’s pamphlet.
The students will participate in a variety of non-credit courses, including classes in accounting, political science, computers and leadership, environmental science, economics and marketing and finance.
Although the students are paying travel expenses, the program is covering the costs of boarding, food, travel and campus expenses.
The founder of BonaResponds, Jim Mahar, is helping to coordinate the students’ trip to campus.
“It was the idea of Lamarre Presume, a friend of mine from Leogane, Haiti,” said Mahar, who is also an associate professor of finance. “We would love to make this an annual event and would love to open it up to people of other countries as well.”
One student, freshman international studies major Flavia Pietrobattista, is from Italy and took similar non-credit courses at St. Bonaventure last year.
“[Studying abroad] is a good thing because we can meet other people and we can get to know other cultures,” Pietrobattista said. “When I first came here, everyone was nice and welcomed me.”
Other students at the university said they are excited about the students from Haiti coming to receive the Bonas experience.
“They’ll have an experience that they might not have in their own country,” said Cholavardhan Kondeti, sophomore biology major. “The experience might encourage them to receive further studies.”
The program is still in need of drivers, hosts, translators and volunteer opportunities for the students. For more information on how to get involved, contact BonaResponds@gmail.com.
morralce14@bonaventure.edu
