The eager arrival of the revelation of GCW courses awaits and we all anticipate what trip we’ll get and how amazing the memories will be. Many students choose trips to enjoy with friends, while others base their choice in order to receive community service hours. Although, much of our decision relies on fulfilling one ‘in Thailand’ trip of the four years. However, for those who wish to do an internship – either career, teacher, or medical internship, this decision is more stressful, as these trips are not considered an ‘in Thailand’ trip.
According to the Community Service Director, Ms. Tananone, and the Dean of Students, Mr. Roback, “The purpose of an internship is mainly career exploration,” whereas “The purpose of requiring an ‘in Thailand’ trip is so that students learn more about our host country.
In agreement, grade 11 student, Siri Asdathorn, believes that GCW internship should not be included as ‘in Thailand’ trips because they “take place in areas where students do not get to interact with Thai locals and Thai culture any more than coming to ISB each day.”
However, serving the Thai community and experiencing Thai culture are present in many of the internship opportunities. Patience Soule, High School Science teacher and Medical Internship chaperone explains that “the Bumrungrad trip really does represent an aspect of Thai culture, in [her] opinion, clearly on the mobile clinic day but also in terms of medical tourism and hospitality.”
Furthermore, experiencing Thai culture can also occur through internships such as that an anonymous grade 11 student plans to pursue. They express their belief that “internships can offer students an opportunity to engage with the Thai community and culture, in some ways that even the ‘in Thailand’ trips for GCW cannot.” The GCW career internship they plan to participate in involves volunteering at a local veterinary clinic and “learning about the soi cat and dog issues that Thailand faces, as well as taking immediate action to treat these animals and help improve their conditions.” In conclusion, the student emphasizes that “[they] cannot think of a better way to learn about our host country, than to actively take part in helping improve one of the greatest problems it faces.
All of the GCW internships offer great learning value and allow for meaningful self-reflection, as do many other GCW courses. However, they also, like the ‘in Thailand’ trips, allow for exploration of Thai culture and serving the Thai community. That being said, the issue of whether internships could be included as ‘in Thailand’ trips is still very contradictory, a giant question mark waiting to be answered.
Ellen Sypolt
