Skip to main content
  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • ’Cuse Conversations Podcast
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Students
    • All Topics
  • Contact
  • Submit
Health & Society
  • All News
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Economy
  • Campus & Community
  • Health & Society
  • Media, Law & Policy
  • STEM
  • Veterans
  • University Statements
  • Syracuse University Impact
  • |
  • The Peel
  • Athletics
Sections
  • All News
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Economy
  • Campus & Community
  • Health & Society
  • Media, Law & Policy
  • STEM
  • Veterans
  • University Statements
  • Syracuse University Impact
  • |
  • The Peel
  • Athletics
  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • ’Cuse Conversations Podcast
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Students
    • All Topics
  • Contact
  • Submit
Health & Society

Students Experience the History and Culture of the Land Down Under

Thursday, June 16, 2022, By Keith Kobland
Share
Falk College of Sport and Human DynamicsSyracuse Abroad
Students enrolled in SPM 300 – Australia: Sport, History and Culture, spend time near the Sydney Harbor Bridge and famed Sydney Opera House.

Students enrolled in SPM 300 – Australia: Sport, History and Culture, spend time near the Sydney Harbor Bridge and famed Sydney Opera House.

An immersive trip to study the history and culture of Australia, along with enjoying a game of footy and a tasty meat pie too, is underway for a group of Syracuse Abroad students who are spending time this month in the land down under.

The group is led by David B. Falk Endowed Professor of Sport Management Rick Burton, who at one time served as commissioner of the Australian National Basketball League. Burton has led SU students on trips to the region for more than 10 years. This year is the first time students have returned to the country since before the COVID-19 pandemic, and it’s obvious they’re excited to be there.

“For some of us, this was years in the making. COVID-19 hit the world hard in the year 2020, when the last trip was scheduled,” says Preston Klaus ’22, G’23, who is blogging about the trip with his classmates.

One of group’s first stops after arriving in Melbourne was to visit the Melbourne Skydeck. “The Melbourne Skydeck is on the 88th floor of Eureka Tower and boasts incredible 360-degree views of the city,” according to the first blog post by Klaus. “Before riding the elevator to the top we experienced a 10-minute virtual reality tour of Melbourne, including courtside views of the Australian Open. We then made our way up to the top, where we were in awe of the wonderful sight of Melbourne at night. The pictures do not do it justice. We sat up there for nearly an hour as it finally sank in that we’re really here. All of the anticipation and we finally made it.”

The trip (June 1-19) is part of a three-credit course titled SPM 300 – Australia: Sport, History and Culture. The students stay in each city approximately five days and along with classroom work enjoy cultural studies with trips to the rainforest and in-depth study of indigenous communities. The group will visit Melbourne, Sydney, and Cairns (the Great Barrier Reef), taking in professional football and basketball, as well as snorkeling, scuba diving and “jungle surfing” in the Daintree National Park. They will visit the Queen Victoria Markets, Australia’s Sporting Hall of Fame, Sydney Harbour and Cape Tribulation, where British explorer James Cook ran aground in 1770. Most days are busy with planned activities, meetings, and sightseeing. As part of their journey, students met with the CEOs of top sports marketing firms including Twenty3 Sport and Entertainment. They also met with SU alumnus Ruffy Geminder ’82, G’84, founder and chairman of Pact Group Holdings, the largest packaging company in Australia. Side trips included an in-person tour of the Melbourne Cricket Ground, attending an Australian Rules Football match, visiting Australia’s famed coasts and the Sydney Opera House, and of course sampling local delicacies.

A day-by-day journal of their experiences can be found at https://suaustralia2022.blogspot.com/2022/?m=1.

  • Author

Keith Kobland

  • Recent
  • Chancellor Kent Syverud Honored as Distinguished Citizen of the Year at 57th Annual ScoutPower Event
    Thursday, May 8, 2025, By News Staff
  • New Maymester Program Allows Student-Athletes to Develop ‘Democracy Playbook’
    Thursday, May 8, 2025, By Wendy S. Loughlin
  • From Policy to Practice: How AI is Shaping the Future of Education
    Thursday, May 8, 2025, By Christopher Munoz
  • Kohn, Wiklund, Wilmoth Named Distinguished Professors
    Thursday, May 8, 2025, By Wendy S. Loughlin
  • Major League Soccer’s Meteoric Rise: From Underdog to Global Contender
    Wednesday, May 7, 2025, By Keith Kobland

More In Health & Society

Major League Soccer’s Meteoric Rise: From Underdog to Global Contender

With the 30th anniversary of Major League Soccer (MLS) fast approaching, it’s obvious MLS has come a long way from its modest beginning in 1996. Once considered an underdog in the American sports landscape, the league has grown into a…

Rebekah Lewis Named Director of Lerner Center for Public Health Promotion and Population Health

The Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs is pleased to announce that Rebekah Lewis is the new director of the Maxwell-based Lerner Center for Public Health Promotion and Population Health. She joined the Maxwell School as a faculty fellow…

Maxwell Hall Foyer Home to Traveling Exhibition ‘Picturing the Pandemic’ Until May 15

Five years ago, the COVID-19 pandemic upended daily lives across the globe, changing how we learned, how we shopped and how we interacted with each other. Over the following two years, the virus caused the deaths of several million people,…

Maxwell Alumnus Joins California Wildfire Relief Efforts

In mid-January, days after the devastating Eaton Fire began in Los Angeles County, California, Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs alumnus Zayn Aga ’21 joined colleagues from the office of U.S. Rep. Judy Chu at a nearby donation drive…

Haowei Wang Named 2025-26 Fellow by Association of Population Centers

Haowei Wang, assistant professor of sociology in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, has been named a 2025-26 Association of Population Centers (APC) Fellow. Every year, the APC selects 12 population research centers to nominate an early-career center…

Subscribe to SU Today

If you need help with your subscription, contact sunews@syr.edu.

Connect With Us

  • X
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
Social Media Directory

For the Media

Find an Expert Follow @SyracuseUNews
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
  • @SyracuseU
  • @SyracuseUNews
  • Social Media Directory
  • Accessibility
  • Privacy
  • Campus Status
  • Syracuse.edu
© 2025 Syracuse University News. All Rights Reserved.