By Rodrigo Valverde/reporter
Many instructors and students agree that study abroad programs are extremely valuable because they are an essential part of learning that one can’t get anywhere else.
NE student Rebecca Kanney took part in the study abroad trip to France last year and plans to go on another trip to Europe this summer. She believes study abroad programs are important for any college student.
Collegian file art
“The opportunity to go abroad and see how other people live, their politics and culture helps a student receive a more rounded education, something you just can’t learn from being in a classroom or books,” Kanney said.
NW dance instructor Lacreacia Sanders, who also participated in past trips, said these programs force students to try new things and interact with people with different experiences and different languages.
“In many instances, there is a stronger historical connection to classroom material after traveling outside of their environment,” Sanders said, “Classroom material comes to life in different ways, and students may develop a greater sense of who they are as an American after being immersed in a different setting.”
Sanders believes the learning potential is endless. Without these programs, students would miss out on a valuable part of their education and that it is much different than simply traveling to another city or state.
“Many may never get this opportunity outside of TCC,” she said.
Since 2002, NE photography instructor Patricia Richards has taken students to Europe every summer and said nothing is better.
“These trips take you out of yourself and open your eyes to life outside of your own,” Richards said. “You can’t measure all that comes from them.”
Before traveling, Richards has tripgoers study the history of places they’ll go because she believes students are responsible for knowing the place to embrace its culture.
Aside from exposure to different cultures, Richards said study abroad programs also bring in map-reading and math skills with students having to figure out how much their American dollars are worth in foreign currency and how much they want to spend.
Richards is taking this year off but says she still has a lot of traveling to do in her life and that there are many more places she would like to see and take students.
“If students are not traveling, there will be a hole or void,” Richards said. “We’d be missing something.”
