“To go in a library or to sit in the classroom and to hear or to study is one thing, to live it and to be on location and to meet the people involved, that's another,” said Theo Brenner, co-founder of Franklin University Switzerland.
The Academic Travel experience has always been and always will be at the heart of FUS, an institution that deeply values experiential learning, the development of an understanding and sensitivity to sustainability and a powerful global outlook. My students at FUS have always spoken to me about them as life-changing experiences, and I’ve witnessed how these trips fundamentally grow their minds and hearts. This is why I chose to tell this story in the Beyond Borders short film mainly through their eyes, incorporating their own footage to complement professional filmmaking. In this way, the film could impact viewers (potential new students, for example) more fully, guiding them through the students’ learning process as if it were their own.
My Lugano-based film production company, Fiumi Studios, thoroughly researched and chose the Academic Travels to highlight the wide diversity of professor styles and course offerings in terms of subject matter and geography: sustainable education in Madagascar, environmental sustainability in Zermatt, digital entrepreneurship in Venice, debunking American myths in Palermo and re-writing the ancient world in Athens. During five simultaneous international shoots, we hired local film crews to document the students, professors and guides on location and interviewed them about their experiences. For Madagascar, we trained and equipped a talented student with previous video-making experience, Cooper Clark, to film the entire experience himself. For the other locations, we asked students in advance to share their footage with us upon their return.
The last part of the process consisted in interviewing both the students and professors, once they were back on Campus, asking them how the Academic Travels enriched their academic experience, encouraged a sense of community between students while also widening their perspective on the world, and instilled in them a sense of environmental awareness. We also wanted the voices of other representatives of the university to be included so we interviewed other professors who are known to lead inspiring Academic Travels, such as professor of art history and visual communication Johanna Fassel.
“One of the very important learning objectives of academic travel is that they learn how to become independent, responsible travelers that really enrich their intellectual life, but also their personal life,” said Satomi Sugiyama, professor of communication and media studies whose Florence travels are always a student favorite.
Other perspectives from the FUS leadership added a more institutional perspective, such as from the president Samuel Martin-Barbero, or the co-founder Dr. Theo E. Brenner who gave us a broader context on the history of the University, and expanded upon the roots and initial vision behind the Academic Travel offering. Thanks to archival footage we could also transmit this rich history that dates back to 1969.
“Every time you walk through that big wooden door, that's where you feel you're back home again - that's the special thing about Franklin,” said Kim Hildebrandt, Chairman of the Board of Trustees.
In the editing of this treasure trove of gathered and found footage, we wanted to invite the viewer to travel through the University’s philosophy over time, and to fully experience what it means to prepare for an Academic Travel, experience it and then come back “home” where students can integrate and live out their newfound perspectives.
“And now looking back on my overall academic experience, I still remember every single thing I learned, facts that a lot of people wouldn't know,” says Hannah Rose McNeely, a current senior. “Something that I really learned from Franklin is you can just take the chance because it will turn out good.”
an Opinion piece by Prof. Elettra Fiumi
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