A recent USA Today College article applauds ClearCause’s work in protecting
students who study abroad!
Rose Conry, the
student author of this article, tells her story of studying abroad in
Valparaiso, Chile. While she was there, she found out another study abroad
student in her organization had passed away. 283,332 students studied abroad in
2011-2012 school year, according to the Institute of International Education. “Some
of these students never made it back, but learning the exact number of deaths
is difficult, due to the lack of mandatory reporting at state or federal
levels,” she wrote.
ClearCause
founder Sheryl Hill is quoted in the article, saying: “We
wrongly assume that the laws to protect our kids are there, and they’re not.”
At ClearCause’s urging, both state Senator Terri Bonoff and state
Representative Yvonne Selcer are trying to expand the law requiring study
abroad programs with enrolled Minnesota students to have mandatory safety
reports.
“We are hoping that this could be a model for other states and
perhaps for federal action,” Bonoff said.
Deaths, illness, injury and crime statistics would all be included
in these reports. The hope is that greater transparency within study abroad
programs “to enable families to make informed decision regarding study-abroad
options without restricting students’ opportunities overseas,” the article
reported.
Sheryl
plans to create an anonymous reporting system on ClearCause’s website where
students can leave feedback on various study abroad programs.
“When those kids die, we all lose. We lose all that potential,”
Sheryl said.
