Spring 2019 is in full swing! The University of Massachusetts Boston campus buzzes with welcoming activities and the promise of new beginnings, classes, friendships and so much more. The start of semester is a clean slate for students, a chance to renew goals. Classes are fresh, notebooks clean, books unmarked. This sparkling clean concept expands into clubs, organizations, and departments throughout campus. Seeds germinated during winter break are now being sowed to be nurtured and watered throughout the semester. I want to share with you one specific department on campus, one that is close to my heart. That is the Study Abroad Program within Global Programs. You probably saw us on the Campus Center Terrace during the first week promoting a sleuth of study abroad programs for Summer 2019.
Every department goes through changes and sadly some of our Global Ambassadors moved on due to graduating. This means an opportunity for new study abroad alumni to join our team. I want to reintroduce you to those of us who are still in classes and our new recruits. It is exciting to hear their stories and where they have studied. I hope to have them share their study abroad stories in this column.
The Study Abroad office, located on the second floor of the Campus Center in Suite 2100, is a welcoming place for both students hoping to study abroad and for exchange students studying at UMass Boston. Part of what we do is buddy up with them as much as possible, make them feel welcomed and share our beloved Boston with them. Studying in another country is exhilarating and scary at the same time. We also take them on excursions beyond campus. We can share watering holes, so to speak, they may not otherwise have had a chance to see. It helps to know that there are peers available to help and that is where we, the Global Ambassadors, come in.
The Ambassadors are peer advisors as well. We have office hours Monday through Friday 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. when students can come by and find out information on how to study abroad. We also help guide students through the application process which can be daunting but doesn’t have to be. We have all been through it, so we know the anxiety that comes along with it. Who are we? We are students ourselves in many different degree programs from Management and Economics to Biology to English. I will begin with this semester’s new Global Ambassadors!
Stephen Smiddy: Junior who studied in Seville, Spain in Fall 2018
Lois Vincent: Senior who studied in Glasgow, Scotland in Summer 2018
Marcelo Daros: Junior who studied in Seville, Spain in Fall 2018
And now our returning Ambassadors:
Colin Barnes: Junior who studied in Limerick, Ireland in Spring 2018
Fiona Berger: Junior who studied in Limerick, Ireland in Spring 2018
Thomas Fee: Senior who studied in Mannheim, Germany in Spring 2018
Jennifir Huston: Junior who studied in Kassel, Germany in Summer 2018
Delaney Ledoux: Junior who studied in Seville, Spain in Fall 2018
There would be no Global Ambassador Program without our fearless leader Brittany Dhooge, Study Abroad Coordinator. She graduated from UMass Boston in 2015. She studied abroad in Italy in 2013 and has traveled abroad several times since graduating and becoming the Study Abroad Coordinator.
We are excited to be moving into our second semester with the Global Ambassadors fully ingrained in the UMass Boston Campus. We are an amazing resource for students who are thinking about studying abroad and finding out how they can overcome any obstacles. I haven’t seen any that cannot be surmounted. I, myself, am an older student with a full-time job and I was able to overcome the obstacle of taking time off work, paying for the program, and covering any lost wages. The study abroad experience is priceless. The experience is one that will change your life. It was worth every step to spend four weeks in Kassel, Germany!
