Study Away: The New Orleans Program

New England College offers students opportunities to live, learn and serve in New Orleans.  Programs have included a 9-day spring break experience, a full semester program, and two three-week winter terms.  Students have had the chance to explore New Orleans’ history and culture, its long-term challenges, and the tragedy of Hurricane Katrina.

The New Orleans Program treats the city as a classroom and its residents as some of our most valuable  teachers.  Participants explore the city and experience all of its sights and sounds.  They get to visit with area musicians, social workers, community activists, reporters, artists, educators. and many others.

Community service is an important component of the program.  Students have many choices of service projects, including working directly in the ongoing post-Katrina rebuilding of that great city.  Some of the organizations with which we have worked include Habitat for Humanity, Hope House, the Children’s Museum, the Uptown Music Theatre, the Jazz National Historical Park, Just the Right Attitude (the area’s largest food bank) and the Crescent City Farmers’ Market, to name a few.
Living, learning and serving in New Orleans has been a life-changing experience for past participants.  We invite all NEC students, as well as students from outside of our institution, to consider participating in this very unique and exciting program.

Our next program is this coming January 2012.  Two specific courses will be offered: New Orleans Culture and Society and New Orleans Music and All That Jazz.  There will also be opportunities for students to design their own program, using our "Directed Study" or "Independent Study" options.