To say that spending a semester at Virginia Tech’s center in Riva San Vitale, Switzerland, can be life-changing is not a platitude. Alumni who have lived and studied at the Steger Center for International Scholarship continue to see the impact of the experience years — and even decades — later.
The Steger Center, part of Outreach and International Affairs, has served as Virginia Tech’s European hub since 1991, hosting numerous study abroad programs for both undergraduate and graduate students every semester. Thanks to its strategic location in the heart of Europe, many students also have the opportunity to take class outings or personal weekend trips to nearby countries.
“As our alumni can attest, the Steger Center is a special place,” Executive Director Sara Steinert Borella said. “Experiential learning comes alive here for many people. Students undergo unexpected transformations during their semester here. I witness it every semester: Students at the Steger Center grow, mature, and learn in a multitude of ways — ways that often have a profound impact on their future professional and personal lives.”
The impact: Their marriage
In February, Taylor Warburton, who graduated in 2020 with a degree in geosciences, and Megan Skarkas, who graduated in 2021 with a degree in architecture, will return to Switzerland to exchange their wedding vows.
The two met at the Steger Center in 2019. Pursuing different majors in different colleges, they likely would never have met if they hadn’t studied abroad. Both said their time in Switzerland was so pivotal for their lives that they couldn’t envision getting married anywhere else.
“We got matching tattoos of the coordinates to Lake Cuomo, near the Steger Center. Of course we are going to get married there,” Skarkas said.
Both Skarkas and Warburton attribute the personal growth they achieved while studying abroad to helping them face challenges with confidence.
“Graduating in a pandemic while no one was hiring was hard, but I was able to be adaptable and expect the unexpected because of my study abroad experience,” Warburton said.
Moreover, studying abroad didn’t just boost her confidence, it also helped her secure a job. “In interviews, I would always speak about my study abroad experience because it showed my ability to navigate in an unfamiliar environment,” she said. “If I can do navigate Europe as a college student, I can navigate this workplace.”
Skarkas said it does not surprise her that personal growth led to love.
“Finding yourself and finding love go hand in hand,” she said. “Finding yourself is the foundation for how you relate to other people.”