As a student of Africana studies, Kit Dobyns '12 figured that spending time in Africa would transcend anything he could learn from a textbook. So along with six other Cornell students, Dobyns spent three weeks in Rwanda this summer opening his mind to the developing world.

The service-learning trip was organized by the Cornell Public Service Center and conceived by Stephen Paletta '87 CEE, whose nonprofit organization, the International Education Exchange (IEE), hosted the Cornell students.

Paletta won the reality television show "Oprah's Big Give" in April 2008, and he used his winnings to expand IEE, as well as establish a second nonprofit that highlights the work of social entrepreneurs and philanthropists. Following the show, Paletta also reached out to his alma mater with the hope of getting students interested in serving the country he'd come to love.

"Because of the show and because of some of the money I've won and had been able to give back to IEE, we decided to grow it tremendously," Paletta said of the organization.

The trip's purpose was twofold, according to Savannah Keith, coordinator of IEE projects in Rwanda and organizer of the trip. IEE, which supports primary schools with teacher training, construction projects and pen-pal programs with U.S. schools, wanted to expose college students to a nongovernmental organization making an impact in a developing country. They also wanted to use the students' skills to train teachers in Rwanda in technology and English, she said.

The students were accompanied by John Weiss, associate professor of history, and Robin Remick, the ILR School's director of international programs. Working with staff at IEE, the students spent several days working with teachers at Kagugu primary school. At another school in Rwinkwavu, the students helped teachers get familiar with computers donated through the nonprofit One Laptop Per Child program.

Other highlights of the trip: traveling to Kigali Health Institute to meet with students and staff, visiting genocide memorials, gorilla trekking and observing a women's cooperative.

Dobyns, a College Scholar studying Africana studies and economics, enjoyed interacting with the teachers, some of whom volunteered "deeply moving stories about personal tragedy."

"I was amazed by their commitment to Rwanda," Dobyns said.

Brian Matuszewski '11, an ILR major, was especially impressed by a Rwandan social entrepreneur he met whose agency works to make communities benefit simultaneously from conservation and tourism.

"I was incredibly fascinated with his social business model and considered him to be quite an inspirational person," Matuszewski said.

Keith said the students brought a unique perspective and dynamic personalities to the trip. "Every one of them came with passion, energy, flexibility and an eagerness to learn that really brought life to the trip," she said.