Riding camels in the desert, taking in sunset vistas across waves of sand dunes, or browsing through colorful gifts at busy Middle Eastern marketplaces are Instagram moments reserved for affluent students on university-sponsored study abroad trips.
Or so Evan Furgal thought.
“Definitely go for it,” Furgal said of a unique program designed for ROTC students. “You’re going to be exposed to a new culture and see some amazing things that you can’t see anywhere else, and you’re able to have it funded, so there’s no real burden on you apart from just your time, but it’s time well spent.”
Furgal was one of several Virginia Tech ROTC students who spent eight weeks studying abroad this past summer through the Department of Defense’s Project GO program. Project GO stands for Project Global Officer and allows students enrolled Army, Air Force, and Navy ROTCs the opportunity to study abroad and sharpen their language skills through immersive training, while also gaining regional and cultural expertise in areas deemed strategic parts of the world by the Department of Defense.
The Department of Defense funds the initiative through grants that can be applied for by ROTC students at 22 universities across the country. Students do not need to be pursuing a degree in a foreign language, or even a minor in one, but during the application process, preference goes toward those with “language experience,” among other criteria.
Furgal, a sophomore from Loudoun County in Northern Virginia and a member of the Virginia Tech Corps of Cadets, is pursuing a degree in national security and foreign affairs from the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences along with a minor in Arabic – though he may end up earning his degree in Arabic, which Virginia Tech added to its degree options in 2020. He joined several traditional Virginia Tech students and then-Project GO participants from other universities across the United States in an immersive six-week Arabic program held in Nizwa, Oman, in the southeastern corner of the Arabian Peninsula.
“It was an awesome experience,” Furgal said. “We would have classes every weekday, so that obviously allowed us to learn things from the book, learn the grammar and learn the vocabulary, but then after classes every day, we would have an hour with a language partner, who was an Omani college student, and they were part of the host program.
“A couple of us would be paired with them, and that’s where we got to learn more of the cultural side of Arabic, as well as just talking dialogue, where sometimes we would go with our language partners to a market or to a restaurant, things like that. You’re getting more of the practical application that you can’t get while you’re like sitting in class.”
The students spent their mornings in class and then an hour each day with a language partner, but had their evenings and weekends free. That allowed them time to enjoy extracurricular activities, not just in the city, but in other parts of the country.