While on a faculty development leave in Peru, Dixie Jamison was reminded that, although we all may come from different backgrounds and cultures, we as humans are more alike than we are different.
Jamison is a faculty member in the Nursing Department at BYU-Idaho. During the Fall 2022 semester, she traveled to Iquitos, Peru, in order to do research on how to better serve the ever changing demographic of BYU-Idaho students.
“We have a huge number of students who attend BYU-Idaho via various online platforms. Actually more students are online than we have on campus, so it’s a huge number of students and we have a growing number of international students where English is their second language,” Jamison said. “I wanted to understand how we can help ‘the one.’ Those that maybe really need the help the most.”
During her time in Peru, Jamison made strong connections with many people who she found inspiring. Her biggest takeaway from the trip was that although her life may seem different from the lives of her friends in Peru, she has more in common with them than she originally thought.
“I already knew that people are people, but it just really reinforced that we’re the same. We have differences and we need to celebrate those, but we’re the same. And that is what was reinforced to me when I was down in Iquitos,” Jamison said.
She plans on bettering the learning programs for online BYU-Idaho students and will continue to keep in touch with the friends she made in Peru in order to help with their needs.