Snapshots from study abroad

Name:Sade Adeyina
Year, major: Senior, Graphic Design
School/college: Tyler
Home town: Burlington, N.J.
Studied abroad in: Italy
First time abroad: Yes

Favorite moment: Picnicking in Rome’s Villa Borghese the day after Easter, then having dinner with some new Italian friends and talking movies and politics.

How study abroad transformed me: “I discovered a newfound respect for other languages and cultures. Having to fend for myself, I learned the importance of making an effort to learn how to speak other languages, as well as being able to think quickly on my feet.”

Why students should consider study abroad: “It’s the experience of a lifetime that relies entirely on you. It doesn’t matter what country you go to, the change in culture is enough to give you something so different from what you would experience anywhere in America.”

Name: Nicholas Pivovarnik
Year, major: Senior, International Business/Economics
School/college: Fox
Home town: Scranton, Pa.
Studied abroad in: Chile
First time abroad: First time outside North
America.

Favorite moment: Being in a tiny town in the South of Chile when the national soccer team qualified for the World Cup.

How study abroad transformed me: “My ambition level has gone through the roof. I lost a lot of lazy habits, because I have a better perspective on myself and what it is that I want to do. I had always dreamed of living and working in a different country, but since studying abroad, it has transformed from a dream into a tangible goal.”

Why students should consider study abroad: “I tell students that they can’t comprehend how amazing the experience will be. This is one of the few opportunities they have to do something completely and totally for themselves.”

Name: Celeste Maldonado
Year, major: Senior, Spanish
School/college: Liberal Arts
Home town:Stroudsburg, Pa.
Studied abroad in: Spain
First time abroad: Yes

Favorite moment: “I went running in the mountains in a city called Llanes and discovered a hidden beach on the other side of a cliff. I decided to swim in the crystal blue water and listen to the silence of nature around me.”

How study abroad transformed me: “I have learned to relax and enjoy each day. I have a new appreciation for my country and friends, as well as a new love of culture and diversity.”

Why students should consider study abroad: “Why not study abroad? It is possible and you can do it! I promise you will not regret it!”

As Temple’s returning study abroad students waited patiently in airport lines to have re-entry stamps punched into their passports last academic year, they didn’t realize that they were helping the university reach an historic milestone.

For the first time in Temple’s history, more than 1,000 students studied abroad in a single year, capping a decade of explosive growth in study abroad at the university.

According to the Office of International Affairs, about 1,005 Temple students studied abroad in 2009-10, up more than 8 percent from 2008-09. With more students taking advantage of a growing menu of Temple programs (such as the semester abroad program in Oviedo, Spain, and new exchanges with Asian universities) and new funding opportunities (such as the Ann and Randy Hart Passport Scholarship and the Diamond Ambassadors Program), the number of Temple students who study abroad has tripled in a decade.

“We’re thrilled, but we’re not going to stop pushing for more students to make transformative study abroad experiences a part of their Temple education,” said Denise Connerty, assistant vice president of international affairs. “There has been an enormous increase of interest. Understanding global issues is no longer considered optional by students, parents or employers.”

To create more opportunities for Temple students to study abroad, Temple launched a number of new programs that have played a major role in increasing participation in recent years. The Ann and Randy Hart Passport Program, created in 2007 by President Hart and her husband to pay for first-time passports for new students who intend to study abroad, has benefited 197 Temple students who’ve never traveled out of the country before. In 2007, the university also launched the Diamond Ambassadors Program, an invitation-only program to help students with the strongest combination of academic performance and financial need study abroad. Since then, more than 125 Diamond Ambassador scholarships have been offered to students to help pay for their study abroad during their time at Temple. More than 60 students have already put the funding to use.

Connerty said that new ways for Temple students to fund study abroad are being created all the time, including a significant increase in the pool of scholarship money available for study abroad starting in January 2011 — an initiative spearheaded by Senior Vice Provost for International Affairs Hai-Lung Dai.

“As soon as President Hart arrived at Temple, she made increasing the number of Temple students who have access to study abroad experiences a top priority,” Connerty said. “Her message has filtered through the whole Temple community. It’s a university-wide priority, and it shows in the numbers.”

Temple students studied abroad in 40 different countries in 2009-10. The top destinations, in order, were Italy, home of Temple University Rome (TUR); Japan, site of Temple University, Japan Campus (TUJ); the United Kingdom; Spain; and France.

In addition to semester- and year-long study abroad programs in Italy, Japan and Spain, Temple has summer programs in Brazil, Costa Rica, France, Germany, Ghana, India, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Spain and the U.K.; and exchange programs with universities in China, Germany, Puerto Rico, South Korea, Taiwan and the U.K. (Some Temple schools and colleges have their own programs as well.)

Connerty stressed that Temple students aren’t limited to countries where Temple has programs. The Education Abroad staff can help students find a good match on an external study abroad program in almost any country on the globe.

Because of the socioeconomic diversity of Temple’s student body — a population with many students who were raised in families for whom international travel wasn’t an option — Connerty and her colleagues still have to work hard to overcome the perception that study abroad is an expensive luxury, accessible only to students from privileged backgrounds. It’s a persistent myth that frustrates many of the Temple students who’ve returned from study abroad experiences.

“Although financing a summer, semester or year abroad is often the concern of many students, I can say from personal experience that many scholarships are available,” said Anna Dini, a senior who studied in Rome in 2009-10.

Felix Alberto’s message to fellow students who are skeptical about studying abroad is a little more blunt.

“Do it!” urged the senior, who studied in Japan in 2009. “I had no money and was afraid of the unknown. I overcame this….[and now] I have a new sense of accomplishment and responsibility.”