ATC holds Italian luncheon to raise money for Study Abroad trip

Cara Copeland lost her job 18 months ago and immediately enrolled at Aiken Technical College. Things have been looking up for her ever since in ways she never expected.

"I'm majoring in social justice, and now I'm going to Italy," Copeland, 30, said with a huge grin. "I've never even been on a plane. This is opening up a lot of doors for me."

ATC is sponsoring its first Study Abroad trip over the Thanksgiving holiday, led by instructors Beth Williams and Jack Zilliox. They're teaching social problems and public speaking respectively, as part of a pilot effort for an honors program that campus officials hope to introduce in 2011. The trip to Italy is another component of that process, in which the goal is that students get many of the same experiences in a two-year college as in a four-year university.

Copeland and other volunteers were serving pizza and pasta at Aiken Technical College's cafeteria recently - an Italian luncheon, appropriately enough, with proceeds going to help participating students defray the costs of the trip.

Students will get a chance in Italy to compare social issues and their own majors there to those in America. Art major Shareka Bucket will get to see the art in Rome, Venice and Florence. She is currently taking Williams' social problems course.

"It's a great class, and it's going to be a great experience to go to Italy and explore new cultures," said Bucket, a Wagener-Salley High School graduate. "I never thought I'd have this opportunity."

Copeland, who has a 6-year-old daughter, feels exactly the same way. She was gleefully wearing a name tag at the luncheon, identifying herself as "Marabella" for the occasion.

"I'm majoring in criminal justice, and I'll bring back how delinquency and crime rates in Italy compare with those here," Copeland said. "It's great that we're piloting an honors program, and I hope other students get to travel abroad, too. God has been working in my life."

Among the volunteers at the Italian Luncheon was Mary Commons, director of the ATC Foundation. She expressed her appreciation to Travania Restaurant and Papa John's for providing the food.

"We want to do whatever we can to help these students," Commons said. "It's very exciting to start the honors program, have a travel abroad opportunity and promote global citizenship."

Other fundraising events are in the planning stage, including a salsa dance, Williams said.

"We want to expand the classroom and make sociology real through this life-changing experience," she said. "We're building better students, and, for myself, this will make me a better teacher."

Contact Rob Novit at rnovit@aikenstandard.com.