Summer study abroad programs give students experience of a lifetime
Brittany Ballantyne
Equinox Staff
Many students may not have school books and studying in mind when thinking about their summer plans; however, a number of Keene State College students did and accomplished much more than studying while abroad this past summer.
Skye Stephenson of the Global Education Office (GEO) explained that the summer study abroad programs have been around for a few years and have recently gained more popularity. According to Stephenson, assessments have shown that “students say it was one of the most important experiences or the most important experience in their life.”
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Junior Meghan Szmyt, who works for the GEO, studied abroad in Costa Rica this past summer. Szmyt said due to her biology major, it’s stressful to fit in a semester studying outside of KSC. The shorter semester overseas prevented Szmyt from falling behind.
Junior Katelyn Williams studied in Italy over the past summer and said, “I needed a break from Keene, and I needed a break from home; I needed to get away, because I knew if I went home, I would have to work and here I’m involved with campus as well as academics.” “I wouldn’t say that it hindered a break, I would say that it gave me a break,” Williams added.
Stephenson said, “You being a foreigner teaches you a lot about who you are, who your family is, what your culture’s all about,” in regards to what students learn while studying abroad. “I think it’s a great chance because there’s really not a lot of periods in one’s life when you’re mature enough to be able to really understand and do a cross cultural experience,” Stephenson said. Senior Marie Avery had her studying away experience in June of last summer in Italy. Avery had already been in high school and said her college experience was a better turnout.
“In high school it was all planned out for me. So basically, you just do a follow the leader kind of thing where this time I had to plan it,” Avery said. “I was there for more than a month so you really get to be submersed with everything which was really nice. You get to see the full culture, not just get to be there a couple days for each place. Living in it also helped because you actually get to see not just the tourist part, you get to see the whole entire living culture.”
“Academically it’s a really great opportunity to test your interests and put them into practice in a different cultural context. Professionally it’s been shown that if you graduate and you have study abroad experience, it can be something that can really set you apart from other people, especially if that’s combined with linguistic skills or if you’ve gone to a less traditional destination,” Stephenson said. Stephenson explained that many students haven’t had the chance to travel before.
“We had a student a few years ago from Maine who had never crossed the border into Canada before, and she was going overseas so it really helps also provide them a window to the world, become more global citizens,” she said. She also said the GEO is flexible and supportive if a student wants to go somewhere there isn’t a program set up already. Avery found the GEO to be helpful.
“They’re really good at working with students so I didn’t really feel like I was going there not knowing what I was doing, and then when you get there you get an advisor too so I really didn’t feel too left out,” she said. “I learned a lot about myself, which I think enhances my education,” Williams said.
Avery said, “You have an idea of yourself, and then you’re put in this situation where you don’t know the language, you don’t where you’re going, and you just learn so much more that you wouldn’t believe you even have inside of you.” “I hadn’t been anywhere else outside of the United States and now it’s kind of given me that travel bug,” Szmyt said.
Stephenson said students often regret not taking the opportunity to study in a foreign country or even at other schools in the country. “We have so many people who’ve graduated who say, ‘Oh I always wanted to but I never did’ and then they really regret it because it is a great opportunity,” she said.
Money and budgeting are also concerns with studying abroad.
Stephenson explained that most of the programs in other countries are the same cost as KSC and the GEO does all it can to help with money situations.
The only things Szmyt, Williams, and Avery said they would change about their study away adventures was the amount of time they were there.
Each expressed that they would have loved to be there longer and wished they looked into it earlier in order to spend even more time abroad in different places.
The concerns students have for studying away include money, adjusting to a new environment, and educational components as well.
Avery said, despite all this, “Just do it. Don’t think too much about it. Of course you have to think a lot about it, but don’t let the negative thoughts or being scared get in the way. I’d say deep down inside you can do it, I think everyone can study abroad. Pick a place you really like and just try something new for a change.”
Brittany Ballantyne can be contacted at bballantyne@ksc.mailcruiser.com