Students share travel tales

Students and faculty congregated in the Mary Gates Hall Commons yesterday to learn about the UW's diverse and exciting opportunities offered abroad. Student representatives, coordinators and faculty answered questions and shared their experiences in international study.

Meghan Vita, a senior studying psychology and environmental ecology and conservation, spent a semester last spring in Costa Rica with the College of Forest Resources.

"Most students aren't able to do their own research at the undergraduate level. However, we were encouraged to conduct studies by the Costa Rican government," said Vita, who manned the booth with program coordinator Tom McDonald.

Students who opt for the Environmental Assessment Program are taught to analyze and collect ecological data in the remote rainforests of La Cangreja National Park. This includes assessing the effects of the park on development in the local communities as well as addressing issues of international sustainable development.

Tom McDonald views the program as an excellent chance for students to become integrated into the country's culture by living in a small rural community.

"How many students can say by studying abroad they actually helped another country?" asked McDonald. "By working with the Costa Rican government, we are able to truly make a difference in conservation."

Not far off from the Costa Rican booth was Hanna Thurber, a representative for the Vermont-based School of International Training (SIT). This is the first year SIT and the UW have partnered to encourage students to study in developing countries.

Thurber, who studied development in Nepal, stressed the importance SIT places in independent field-based projects.

"Since our students are placed in home-stay communities, we encourage them to interact through working with non-governmental organizations and promoting community reciprocity," she said.

Thurber also says that cultural integration is at the heart of SIT's mission to expose students to less-traveled regions of the world.

"We want to consider something out of the ordinary when looking at their study-abroad choices," said Thurber.

In addition to their regional and thematic study programs -- ranging from peace and conflict studies to environmental issues -- SIT offers summer programs in Morocco, China, Switzerland, Cuba and Jamaica. Courses vary from Public Health and Traditional Chinese Medicine to Afro-Spirituality.

For more information on study-abroad programs, visit the International Programs and Exchanges office, located at Schmitz 516.