Month: January 2019

If you are in need of a quick and convenient way to get home or just have the desire for an adventure somewhere new, the St. George Shuttle has an accommodating connection for you.

With several rides offered to multiple destinations, the St. George Shuttle will get you wherever you need to go. Students can choose to ride in a van, a charter service or a limo. There are two types of vans to pick from when choosing a ride: an executive or a standard.

The executive van has spacious seats for a more luxurious ride, while the standard van allows for more passengers. Each ride offers free Wi-Fi and comfortable seating at reasonable prices.

“Many students have family outside of the southern Utah region, and being able to get a ride for a great price is something that is simple and convenient for everyone,” said Kason Greenwall, a junior integrated studies major from Santaquin.

With stops ranging from Mesquite, Nevada, to Farmington, and all the way up to Idaho Falls, Idaho, the St. George Shuttle offers a safe and pleasant drive no matter how many miles your trip is.

Most vans are equipped with power outlets so you will never have to worry about your phone or laptop dying, which is perfect for any long drive. They have been reliable to all of southern Utah for over 20 years, and with environmentally responsible vehicles powered by natural gas, it is a great option to reduce your carbon footprint as well.

“I think this method of travel is growing among students because it is affordable to travel, and it is a nice choice to take the shuttle when you do not want to drive,” said Christopher Roller, a junior theater major from Las Vegas. “It is amazing to have the option to go home and visit family.”

Dixie State University students can take full advantage of the services St. George Shuttle offers such as travel times that work around any schedule, various pick up and drop off locations and special offers. Students can get a 30 percent discount with the promotion code “DSU2018” when traveling to any destination. They also offer military discounts.

“The drivers are really nice and helpful, and they will answer any question you have about where you are going,” said David Martin, a freshman accounting major from Phoenix. “They also offer free water to make sure the ride is very comfortable. Overall, it’s a good source for students that don’t have cars, who do not want to put miles on their car or just need a quick ride somewhere.”

The St. George Shuttle office is located at 1275 E. Red Hills Parkway in St. George. Students can visit their website for a complete list of destinations and to book their next ride. Stay safe and ride instead of drive with the St. George Shuttle, where your next trip awaits.

Picture waking up every morning in a different country, taking in the beautiful foreign sights, and absorbing the culture all before heading to your classes. Now picture having the ability to spend anywhere from a week to an entire semester in a country of your choice.

As a college student, this may sound like wishful thinking, but with the study abroad program at Dixie State University, students’ dreams to travel abroad may be closer to reality than they think.

What is the Study Abroad Program at DSU?

The Study Abroad Program, led by program coordinator Jenny Callahan, is a program open to all DSU students interested in earning transferable credits for courses taken in a different country. There are currently three types of programs available:

• Summer programs
• Affiliate programs
• Exchange Programs

Summer programs range between one to six weeks, and these faculty-led trips are the most structured in terms of activities and sightseeing, Callahan said.

Affiliate programs are run through a third party associated with DSU. These programs offer students the ability to travel to countries that DSU doesn’t offer, Callahan said. These trips can range anywhere from a week to an entire semester.

Exchange programs can last a student a semester or an entire year. This program allows you to swap places with another student from a participating country. These trips are much more independent, leaving the student to explore and experience the country to their own desire. Callahan said DSU has long-standing relationships with the countries involved in the exchange program, and for this reason the program looks for students who are able to act as an ambassador between the institutions involved.

“It’s unique,” Callahan said. “You’re registered for classes at [DSU], but you attend classes at this partner university.”

Where can we study abroad?

According to the DSU Study Abroad website, the two countries offered through the summer and exchange programs are Japan and Peru. However, if you choose to travel through the affiliate programs, you’ll have your pick of 24 countries, ranging from Cuba to Australia.

Why should I study abroad?

In one word: experience.

“It doesn’t matter if you never plan on leaving St. George, Utah, the U.S., anywhere,” Callahan said. “You’re going to be dealing with people from around the world no matter what job you do.”

Luis Arevalo, director of global education, said the current job market is extremely competitive, and getting that experience with other cultures can help get you ahead.

“Even picking up part of a different language… those are invaluable talents now,” Arevalo said.

Callahan went on to say that studying abroad elevates your cultural competency.

“It allows you to see that there’s different ways of thinking and it helps [students] see that there are some really beautiful and wonderful locations out there in the world,” Callahan said.

Callahan also said it helps students see how similar we all are around the world and how we all enjoy similar things.

“From my experience, the student grows and develops on these trips,” said Peter Gitau, vice president of student affairs.

How much does it cost?

It depends on the program you choose.

The faculty led programs range from $1,200-$5,000, depending on the length of the trip. The semester-long exchange program, described as a “hidden gem” by Callahan, has a fee ranging from $300 to $850 plus tuition and airfare. Scholarships and other financial aid opportunities are available and transferable to students. The affiliate programs, as they’re run through a third party, range in a variety of prices.

Since the courses taken are credits through DSU, supplemental funding can be available as well, Gitau said.

“Many students don’t do study abroad because they’re worried about affording it,” Gitau said. “Much of this money that’s available goes unused because students are afraid to ask for it.”

What makes DSU unique?

The cost, the locations and the cultural immersion. A program is available through DSU that allows students to spend two days in a village with a native family.

“You do what they do, you eat what they eat, it’s complete immersion,” Gitau said.

Beyond that, there’s also several service projects available through that program. Normally taking place in an a local elementary school, these can range from teaching English at a school in the community, to renovating a classroom.

Arevalo said that DSU’s program is unique in the sense that every aspect of it is pegged in learning objectives.

“It’s not just ‘outings abroad,'” Arevalo said. “That doesn’t happen everywhere.”

How can I apply?

Applications for summer 2019 and the 2019-20 school year are open now and available at https://studyabroad.dixie.edu/sign_up/ . There is a $35 application fee.

For more information regarding the Study Abroad Program at Dixie, contact Callahan at studyabroad@dixie.edu or by phone at 435-879-4714.

“Wind blew against her back, cooling the air just slightly from the scorching sun above. Above, the sky was a purple-tinted blanket of its own, stretching over the flats, dunes, and plateaus alike.”

This is a quote from a fiction story called “A River in the Desert,” which was featured in Route 7, an online literary journal run out of Dixie State University.

Route 7 is geared toward publishing works that “recreate the sense of majestic beauty and wonder” of exploring the desert, according to its website. The most current edition was released on Dec. 14, 2018, and features four reviews, seven fiction stories, 11 nonfiction stories, 13 visual art pieces and 40 poems. Shauna Wight, the current director of Route 7 and the English professor of the digital journal production course it’s attached to, said these works were chosen from roughly 300 submissions.

“The poetry and fiction sections got tons and tons of submissions,” said Emma Lee, one of the fiction and poetry editors and a senior English major from Simi Valley, California. “It’s hard to pin down exactly how many because many of the authors would submit several pieces together. I probably read through a good 50 or so works.”

Founding editor Stephen Armstrong, a professor of English, said he and former colleague John Chavez came up with Route 7 and initiated its development in the summer of 2012 as part of the development of the relatively new creative writing program.

One goal of Route 7 was to distinguish itself from similar journals such as The Southern Quill, which has been around since 1951. Armstrong said that was why Route 7 was a solely digital publication until its second edition, and Lee said there is more freedom for the editing team to make each issue of the journal their own since there is an entirely new team for every issue, whereas The Southern Quill is a repeatable course and can keep the same staff across multiple semesters.

“John and I, we worked together,” Armstrong said. “We said, ‘We need to have a digital publication and the publication will be sort of a counterweight to The Southern Quill, which is in-house, featuring local submissions from Clark and Washington counties. And that’s nice, but we want to go global; we want to get the name out there.’”

Route 7 was then named after one of the old routes near the St. George Regional Airport, as per the desert theme, and Armstrong and Chavez recruited two founding interns, one an English major and the other “an IT guy” and created the first edition, which came out in 2013.

Armstrong said: “It was a heck of a lot of work to get that first edition together. And we did.”

This work included soliciting works from all around the world, interviewing with photographers and editing submissions within a single semester.

Armstrong was involved with Route 7 for its first two years, then shifted his role to being a contributor and an editor at-large. During its second edition was when the journal had its first print version as a companion to the digital component, with the white cover of the print edition being modeled after those found in vending stalls in Paris.

Armstrong said Route 7 has always drawn high-quality submissions, including content from people such as Laurence Jackson Hyman, son of famous author Shirley Jackson, who wrote stories such as “The Lottery” and “The Haunting of Hill House.” Some of the accepted submissions don’t even follow the desert theme and are instead accepted based on quality.

General editor Cadence Summers, a senior English major from West Valley City, said: “The class is a really cool hands-on experience that required us to actively participate, come up with ideas and solve problems, [especially since] we only had 16 weeks to read, accept and edit submissions, along with designing and producing it… It was kind of urgent, but it was also really cool to use all of the skills I’ve learned in my other courses as we went along. I think this is one of my favorite classes that I have taken so far at Dixie [State University] and I highly recommend it.”

Route 7 accepts submissions each fall semester and publishes those chosen each December.