Photo of the Study Abroad table at “A Taste of Global Education” event. (Gabriella Collins/East Tennessean)
On Thursday, Nov. 16 from 6-8 p.m., ETSU Education Abroad hosted their event “A Taste of Global Education” in the D.P. Culp Student Center Cave where they invited different cultural organizations on campus for a night of food, fun and games. Organizations present were the South Asian Student Association, the French Society, Shades of Africa, the German Club, the Muslim Student Association and the Hispanic American Student Community Alliance. Each organization stood behind its table and presented its club while serving food from their culture and educating attendees on their association.
Photo of students practicing skills with the Japanese Kendama during “A Taste of Global Education” event. (Gabriella Collins/East Tennessean)
Sydney Wilder and Kate Boundy are study abroad ambassadors in the newly made Study Abroad Ambassador Program which was launched by the Education Abroad Office just this year. As ambassadors, they had been planning the event for a month as their grand project for the program.
The pair reached out to approximately 13 student organizations before seven of them agreed to be part of the event. Using the organization database website Buc-Hub, Boundy used the resource to contact and inform differing cultural organizations about their participation.
“Food is really important to cultures, and oftentimes certain people will want to cook for you and share part of their culture, and this is a way to do that and advertise study abroad programs,” Wilder said.
Increasing cultural awareness as part of International Education Week, the event encouraged students to stop by and learn about the many organizations ETSU has to offer while also learning about study abroad opportunities.
Photo of the MSA table during “A Taste of Global Education” event. (Gabriella Collins/East Tennessean)
“You can really go anywhere,” Boundy said on the program. “If you want to go to Japan, that’s possible, if you want to go to South Africa, that’s possible.”
Highlighting the endless options, if a semester sounds like too much of a commitment, there are study abroad opportunities that are available for smaller windows of time such as spring break or summer break, Wilder mentioned.
“Studying abroad is a really beneficial experience and if everyone can have the chance to do that, I would really love to see that,” Wilder said.
For more information on the ETSU’s study abroad program, visit https://www.etsu.edu/global-engagement/education-abroad/programs.php. To learn more about the Study Abroad Ambassador Program, visit https://www.etsu.edu/global-engagement/education-abroad/ambassador-program.php.