What's a Magellan Trip and What was Mine About?

Washington & Jefferson College is extremely proud of its Magellan Program. Essentially the Magellan Program is taken as a Magellan Trip which acts as an independent research trip encompassing any country and any interest. Unique to Washington & Jefferson, the Magellan Program allows students to explore their personal interests and explore exotic and domestic places alike. From Pittsburgh to Peru, Chicago to China, and from Michigan to Malta everywhere is in the domain of a Magellan Project. In this program, the student's personal interests are in the spotlight of the trip whether it be business, history, or science, and even more liberating is the fact that the interest of the Magellan trip does not have to coincide with your declared major. The college funds projects that are conceived, planned, budgeted, and completed independently by their students. The college prides itself on funding these trips in an effort to support the dreams of their students, to support the growth of students, and allow their students to explore the value of experiential learning.

Specifically, my Magellan was to stand in awe of the amazing structures built by the Knights of St. John as they prepared and waited for the Ottoman invasion, to ponder the lasting effects of the hundreds of years of rule the Knights left on the modern islands, and to explore one of the best preserved pieces of the "Old World" complete with walled cities, extensive fortifications, and awash with historical details whether from street corners or carved statues within their tunnels. In one sentence: to study the lasting effects of the Knights of St. John on the islands of Malta and to study the extensive impact they left through their architecture, culture, and rule.