Advocacy Project: The Beauty of the Path once Traveled
Within the scientific student community, there is a severe misconception that if one would like to study abroad, they must place themselves behind in their studies in order to do so. However, through Penn State alone there are approximately 300 different programs which one can take part in, ranging in lengths from embedded programs, during Thanksgiving, Winter, or Spring breaks, to summer and Maymester programs, to programs which extend over an entire semester. There are also many different programs which the student can choose to take part in, whether they be internships in their preferred fields, to completing general education requirements, to making connections with universities abroad through which they may take courses within their major. Through these variations, there are plenty of opportunities which students may take advantage of in order to travel and study abroad should they so choose. It is this vast difference between the perceived reality and truth of the situation which I sought to highlight within my Advocacy Project, in addition to giving students the opportunity to see that studying abroad is more than possible while completing a STEM major, and that their dreams to study abroad are not ones which they have to relinquish in order to receive their degree.
In order to complete my project, I enlisted the help of several other STEM students at Penn State who have already studied abroad as a part of their degree program and put together an installation highlighting their experiences. This installation included general information regarding STEM abroad, as well as art pieces the students created to reflect their time abroad and short written pieces detailing what they got out of their experiences, why they chose to study abroad, and if they had any troubles in doing so. The installation was located in the Deike building of the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences, was made up of several posters including the above listed information and had its debut on Monday April 18, 2016. After the completion of the installation, the posters created were then donated to the Global Programs office here at Penn State in order to further advance the push for STEM abroad. For I truly believe it is important to give STEM students opportunities through which they may be successful in today's increasingly globalized world market, and studying abroad is largely considered by employers to be one of the best barometers for these students' continued success.
Below I have included pictures of the posters I created, as well as the event itself. In addition, I have included a PDF file of the written pieces created by the students who participated in the project.
In order to complete my project, I enlisted the help of several other STEM students at Penn State who have already studied abroad as a part of their degree program and put together an installation highlighting their experiences. This installation included general information regarding STEM abroad, as well as art pieces the students created to reflect their time abroad and short written pieces detailing what they got out of their experiences, why they chose to study abroad, and if they had any troubles in doing so. The installation was located in the Deike building of the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences, was made up of several posters including the above listed information and had its debut on Monday April 18, 2016. After the completion of the installation, the posters created were then donated to the Global Programs office here at Penn State in order to further advance the push for STEM abroad. For I truly believe it is important to give STEM students opportunities through which they may be successful in today's increasingly globalized world market, and studying abroad is largely considered by employers to be one of the best barometers for these students' continued success.
Below I have included pictures of the posters I created, as well as the event itself. In addition, I have included a PDF file of the written pieces created by the students who participated in the project.
As a result of my interactions with study abroad and many students who have expressed interest in learning about other cultures and the places from which they came, I am currently acting as the Public Relations chair for the Global Ambassadors here at the University Park Campus. The Global Ambassadors are a group of students who have either studied abroad or who have shown interest in studying abroad and learning about other cultures through direct interaction. We work closely with the Global Programs office in order to extend knowledge about the study abroad opportunities we have through the university and enable interested students to have a contact to help answer inquiries.