Students who want to study abroad or are interested in learning about other cultures can meet at 4 p.m. Wednesday in the Blue Gray-Room at the Student Center for a new study abroad club.
The goal of the club is to raise student interest, teach students how to handle the seemingly daunting process, and show that studying abroad is not as difficult or scary as it might seem.
Gabriela Alvarado, the new club’s president, said she plans to hold cultural events to promote the club as well as team up with other clubs on campus that aim to increase understanding and awareness of different groups.
Alvarado recently returned from her own study abroad experience: a fall semester in Ecuador. When Yin Star, the staff director of study abroad at Shepherd, asked her if she wanted to become the president of a new club-in-the-making, she was happy to oblige.
Alvarado took on the task to “help others go and explore and do so many amazing things.” She said she’s grateful for what she’s gotten to do abroad, and wants others to experience this as well.
Alvarado had a great time becoming close with other students in her program, meeting family members, and learning more about her heritage.
“I’m half Ecuadorian,” Alvarado said. “It made me appreciate where my family came from.”
And this is only one of the many reasons to study abroad. Alvarado found, as many students who take the leap to another country do, that she gained a greater understanding of a new culture, different people, and herself. She hopes to pass this onto other students who might not otherwise consider it.
Alvarado has noticed the lack of interest many students exhibit about studying abroad. When students in the First Year Experience classes were asked to list their top three reservations about studying abroad, the most common answers were not wanting to leave friends and family, the cost, and the potential language barrier.
“We can work on that,” Alvarado said of each challenge. “There are definitely ways to do it.”
She even mentioned one of the things she learned from her fellow U.S. students in Ecuador was that, in some schools in the U.S., “it’s required to study abroad. They have to do it.”
“We have a lot of ideas,” she said. “I’m excited for what’s to come.”
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