PORT ANGELES — This week’s Studium Generale, a free, public program in Peninsula College’s Little Theater, will be about one journey made by John Pritchard III, a Makah tribal member from Neah Bay.
Pritchard, now 24, is the slam poet who traveled this year to Florence, Italy, for the spring academic quarter. He’ll talk Thursday about his experiences as a student in Italy as well as his return home to the North Olympic Peninsula.
Admission is free to the 12:35 p.m. program in the Little Theater, which is in the J building at Peninsula College, 1502 E. Lauridsen Blvd.
While in Florence, Pritchard took 10 credits in communications studies and five credits in Italian life and culture — and when he could, traveled to other Italian cities and beaches. Having grown up in remote Neah Bay with its windswept sands and rich salmon runs, he brought a particular perspective to those Mediterranean days.
“My decision to go, the process [and] the fundraising and help throughout the communities” will be part of Thursday’s talk, Pritchard said.
Months of fundraising
Back in late 2014, Pritchard worked with Peninsula College International Studies Adviser Val Conroy to begin what looked to be an arduous several months of fundraising.
It started small with a $344 grant from the Bill Hennessey Native Bridges Fund, established in honor of the late Dr. Bill Hennessey of Port Angeles and administered by the Peninsula College Foundation.
Pritchard used that $344 to publish a slim volume of his poetry, WOLF: We Only Love Freedom, as a fundraiser.
He gave a few readings — recitations, really, since he knows his poetry by heart — and as word got out, his books sold out.
Besides buying copies of WOLF, people across the Peninsula sent donations — with several ranging from $100 to $500, and one for $5,000 from an anonymous supporter.
Pritchard’s presentation Thursday is titled “A Celebration of Study Abroad,” and includes a discussion from Conroy on current and future study abroad programs for Peninsula College students and faculty. The potential destinations, in addition to Italy, are: Germany, England, Costa Rica, Ireland, Australia and Japan.
For more information about Thursday’s presentation and the International Studies program, contact Conroy at vconroy@pencol.edu or 360-417-6483, or Peninsula College English professor Kate Reavey at kreavey@pencol.edu or 360-417-6489.
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Features Editor Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5062, or at diane.urbani@peninsuladailynews.com.
