By Amy Kendall
Nicole Elder talked of being in London and spending time at war memorials and museums. Brandon Baird described his experience living in a rural Mexican village studying languages and teaching literacy. Shannon Wilde outlined the time she spent in France working for a non-profit organization.
All three of these students participated in programs available through the International Study Programs at BYU. However, each of the programs has unique characteristics that offer different experiences to students.
Study Abroad
Study abroad programs incorporate academic study with an international location.
Chelita Pate, the study abroad coordinator, said the programs are faculty led and offer a set curriculum.
Often, the programs aim to satisfy GE or language credits; however there are also major specific programs.
Elder said she made life-long friends on her trip partly because study abroad students spend so much time together. The students may live together, they attend classes together and travel and site-see together.
Elder, a history teaching major, spent last spring in London. She said the program, which included several history classes and focused on the rich cultural heritage of Europe, fit perfectly with her field.
'I''m going to be a high school teacher,' she said. 'So having these pictures of these things and being able to show them to my students will be amazing.'
Elder had never been to Europe and said she saw the study abroad program as the perfect opportunity, especially since it was tied to her field of study.
'For me, the study abroad, where you''re actually taking classes and you''re learning, was more of what I wanted to do,' Elder said.
Field Study
In Mexico, Baird lived in a rural village on his own. While there, he conducted original research on the influence English and an Aztec language have had on Spanish. He also worked closely with the Mexican government to teach villagers to read their native language.
This program was a field study.
Dave Shuler, the international field studies coordinator, said field studies require a student to work on a personal research topic or question in a cross-cultural setting.
Usually, the student lives with a local family and is completely immersed in the culture and community.
'I know of no other thing a student can do at BYU that will better prepare them for-and get them accepted into-graduate school,' Shuler said.
Baird, a Spanish major, said he decided to go on a field study because he wanted to return to Mexico due to the deep love he had developed for the country while serving his mission there. He said he had fallen in love with the language and wanted to further study it.
Baird said, at first, he was a little intimidated by the research aspect of a field study. But after finding a topic he was interested in, he became more excited about the research than the literacy teaching.
'I got way excited about it and I actually liked to go to the library and study for once,' Baird said.
Internship
For two months, Wilde lived in the city of Dunkirk in northern France. She interned with a non-profit organization that assisted the elderly and low-income individuals.
The international internship program at BYU aims to offer students an opportunity to apply the things they have learned.
The positions are short-term and participants can either select from already existing programs or design their own.
Wilde, a business management major, didn''t go for her major but for her French skills. She said her internship provided an experience she found more meaningful than a study abroad she had participated in the previous year.
'Study abroads and internships can both be good experiences,' Wilde said. 'But an internship immerses you in the culture.'
Opportunity for all
Wilde is now the French and Italian internship facilitator. She talked about the numerous opportunities these three different programs provide to students of all majors and life situations.
She said, 'Out of those three, there should be something everyone should want to do.'
For more information, visit www.kennedy.byu.edu.