It's remarkable how a simple thought can go from a possibility to a reality....
Summer of '09:
After a Summer researching colleges and study abroad programs, I had decided that I was going to spend a year abroad, one semester in South America and one semester in Spain, somehow making it work out so that I could graduate in four years as a certified Spanish teacher. It's amazing how much can change in the span of a few months.
Fall of '09:
As soon as school started up, I was in Dr. Wyant’s (my honors advisor) office discussing my options on how to make it happen. At some point he told me two things that would change my college career and will probably affect me for life. He told me that I might be interested in Semester at Sea and to see Emily Marmo to discuss it. No more than twelve words but that was all it took.
Emily had become the new head of study abroad at MSMC and it seemed as though from the moment I met her she knew exactly who I was and what I wanted to do. About halfway through the semester, I was beginning to question if I really wanted to become a teacher and where I wanted to study abroad. I spent hours in her office going over all the possibilities. With just a week or so left in the semester, I had settled on doing a Semester at Sea and had changed my major to Interdisciplinary-International with a Business Concentration and Hispanic Studies. Simply put, I am an International Relations/Business and Spanish double major.
Winter ‘09/’10:
By the end of the Fall Semester, Emily had officially become my new advisor and I am proud to say that I am one of only a handful of students she advises. Anyone who has Emily as an advisor should consider themselves lucky for all the hard work and dedication she shows her students. In barely two months, she had not only come up with my course plan for the next two and a half years, but also figured out a way to make it possible for me to go on SAS. At that point in the year, Emily had seen my transcript and my resume and had spent so much time with me that she really knew what I was about. Knowing especially my dedication to helping others, she suggested that I look into doing service-learning throughout my trip. The unique thing about service learning is that it opens up doors and allows for cultural exchange. While you’re working with children in a village in Ghana, they’re observing and learning about what makes you, you. In the past, I had done service learning for classes in both high school and college and this would be a way to really take it out of the box. With Emily’s help, I wrote and rewrote a letter that would make SAS possible.
During the Winter, I worked at Mount Snow in Vermont as a ski coach. While there, I worked with several familiar faces and a few coaches that I knew in passing. I would like to extend a thank you to everyone there who encouraged me and really made me see this as a reality. Three of the coaches that I worked with truly deserve special recognition. First, Nancy Peck-Cook, I had met Nancy briefly in past seasons but this season I really got to know her well. Nancy was one of the first people to really become interested in what I was doing. I gain strength from her as she has really helped me to prepare for this trip mentally and has been such a positive influence on me. Second is Janice Baxter. Janice has known me since I was about five and always taught me that anything is possible. She, like Nancy helped me to really see the opportunity I was being given and encouraged me to go for it. Last, but absolutely not least, is Dean Jenard. It is because of Dean that I learned to reach for the moon. When he asked if I had a goal, I said it was $3,000 to which he responded, “it should be $10,000.” To date, I have raised over $8,500 and while I may not have made the moon, I most certainly landed among the stars. So it is thanks to Dean that I changed my goal and really pushed myself.
Spring ’10:
Spring was a bit of a whirlwind. I was in the middle of a whole new type of course load. Now, instead of learning the best way to teach a first grader how to learn vowels, I was learning about the benefit of doing blind taste tests in a Business Course. I was still meeting with Emily regularly, only now our meeting had switched from ifs to whens. I applied for several ISE (International Shipboard Education) scholarships and received both a work-study scholarship as well as a merit scholarship. We were working out the courses I would be taking and discussing the sorts of trips I could/would take. Despite long hours spent between classwork and meeting, I was having a blasts. With such a busy semester, the year quickly came to an end. I left school that May with good memories and was confident in the new direction I was headed.
