Dr. Peter Schwartz, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, is exploring a collaborative development model where US students study in a developing country with local students, in this case in San Pablo, Guatemala—a village of 800 at elevation 3000 m near the Mexican Boarder. The Cal Poly summer study abroad program “Guateca”, to commence July 1, 2011, was jointly conceived with San Pablo leadership on August 2010, and has since grown through input from both Cal Poly and San Pablo communities. The program aims to build cross-cultural community and explore choices both societies have in the context of the rapidly changing energy landscape to develop in a way that preserves the environment and builds independence from increasingly expensive conventional energy sources. [Available on DVD in the SSU library.]
