Tennessee Tech graduate and doctoral students will share experiences from their recent Cultural Immersion Tour during a Tuesday seminar.
Students participated in the National Science Foundation’s National Traineeship Program. Program Coordinator Sabrina Beur said the tour is meant to give students a good understanding of the culture and history of the communities Tennessee Tech partners with.
“We get a version of history that leaves out the messy bits frequently,” Beur said. “So I think it was good for the students to get a more holistic view of the actual history for these communities, and not just Indigenous, for Appalachian and rural communities. So a lot of them walked away with experiences and knowledge that they didn’t have before.”
Beur said the tour started at the Museum of Appalachia and then traveled over 900 miles in just four days. The presentation will be held at 11 a.m. on Tuesday in the Tech Pride Room.
Beur said the tour schedule itself was put together by History Professor Dr. Troy Smith.
“For example the Trail of Tears, it’s one thing to read about this in a history book and to learn about it in a classroom,” Beur said. “But to actually go and visit some of the Trail of Tears memorials and actually see the names of the people who were removed forcefully from their homes, that just gives another layer to the experience.”
Beur said that students will be working in some of the Appalachian, Rural, and Native American communities they’ve studied.
“We also wanted this tour to be balanced between the communities that we’ll be partnering with.”
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