VALPARAISO | When international commerce and policy graduate student Jacob Sitati came to Valparaiso University from Kenya, he intended to gain business knowledge he could take back home to benefit people in his native land.
This fall, the co-founder of Vision for Kenya is learning firsthand how the global business world can serve and be served by individuals with special needs.
Sitati is one of several international students enrolled in Valpo's "Nonprofit Organizations" course this fall offered through the master's program in international commerce and policy (http://www.valpo.edu/grad/icp/index.php). He and other students are learning how people with physical and mental challenges can help businesses improve their operations, and how work experiences can help those individuals develop as productive members of society.
Students in the course are working directly with the Valparaiso-based nonprofit Opportunity Enterprises, which serves challenged individuals of all ages in the community.
Opportunity Enterprises President and CEO Gary Mitchell is teaching the "Nonprofit Organizations" course, which includes a diverse group of about 20 students representing six countries.
"They have all expressed an interest in learning more about the nonprofit world in the U.S. and how it relates to charities in their countries," Mitchell said. "There is a difference between how they define and fund charities in their countries and how nonprofits are defined and funded in the United States."
As part of the course, the students have toured the facilities of Opportunity Enterprises and worked side-by-side with employees and community volunteers.
"I realize that the individuals working at OE are developmentally challenged," Sitati said. "However, the work product they create is of good quality, which is necessary to keep outside companies interested in using OE to help in their business processes."
"Working with this class has allowed us to verbalize our programs and services, and our mission and values to individuals who have no knowledge of OE, and to get honest feedback," Mitchell said. "We are able to educate these students, and thus a part of the community we have not yet reached, about the abilities of our amazing people."
What the students learn at OE is a natural fit for the international commerce and policy master's program, said Jennifer Guziewicz, coordinator of academic services for Valpo's Graduate School.
"International commerce and policy has always had a nongovernmental, nonprofit element to it," Guziewicz said. "This interdisciplinary program provides students with background in the political, legal, economic, technical and cultural aspects of global commerce, business and international relations. The function of the nonprofit organization is critical in both developed and developing nations as citizens of the world interact with each other."
Guziewicz said the partnership with OE allows Valpo students to take theory out of their classrooms and put it into practice.
