(The Picket)– The new director of the Shepherd Study Abroad program seeks to expand the program and says that financial aid can fund international study.
“Study abroad is important to me because it allows a student to grow independently, to allow the student to be confident of themselves,” said the new program director Yin Star. “To know that no problem is insurmountable, and that they can overcome challenges. It broadens their horizons; it allows students to grow and to understand people who are diverse. With the world getting smaller, it also allows students to build skills that employers are looking for, working with different people, possibly another language, and also the ability to be flexible.”
Yin plans to visit FYEX class to discuss study abroad possibilities with first-year students. She wants to assure students that their credit earned abroad will transfer to Shepherd, and also that financial aid financing or scholarships are available. She noted that one student paid for her study abroad program with a Go Fund Me effort.
The many faculty-led study abroad trips at Shepherd also benefit students, and especially students who don’t want to go abroad for a whole semester, she said.
A study abroad fair is to be held Oct. 6 in the Rams Den from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m. Also, an Instagram to be featuring pictures of Shepherd students abroad in Ram’s gear is to begin soon.
Yin came to Shepherd from American Public University System in Charles Town, West Virginia. She has traveled abroad with her family because her father was in the U.S. Foreign Service. She has a BA from Ouachita Baptist University in Arkansas and an MA from the University of Pittsburgh. She worked in the international trade arena in Washington, D.C.
Jessica Sharpless is a reporter for The Picket and can be contacted via email at jsharp02@rams.shepherd.edu