Study abroad provides 'life changing' adventures
Contact: Christina Chapple
2/3/06
HAMMOND -- Southeastern Louisiana University is offering students the opportunity to “change their lives” this summer through study abroad programs in Costa Rica, France, Honduras, Mexico, Italy, and the Mediterranean.
“The theme that we hear again and again from students who participate in our study abroad programs is ‘My life has changed.’ And they really do mean it,” said Danilo Levi, interim director of Southeastern’s International Initiatives Office.
“Firsthand experience of other countries and cultures provides a clearer understanding of ourselves, our own society and culture, our place in the global community, and our common human heritage,” he said.
Levi said student have until Feb. 28 to sign up for eight 2006 summer study abroad programs. Students can earn up to six academic credits studying in business, sociology, criminal justice and tropical biology in Costa Rica; nursing in Honduras; French and history in France; literature in Italy; Italian on a Mediterranean cruise, and Spanish in Mexico.
Competitive program costs include tuition, lodging and some meals, site visits, and lectures by top local experts. The programs are coordinated by the International Initiatives Office and some of the university’s top faculty, Levi added.
He said students who have participated in study abroad in the past describe the programs as “life‑changing.”
“When they come back, they’re ready to go again – and some have gone on second, even third study trips,” Levi said.
Levi said financial aid can be applied to study abroad expenses and scholarships are also available. Southeastern’s Student Government Association is providing more than $75,000 in study abroad scholarships this year, while a number of other scholarship programs are also available.
The eight programs all have unique qualities, Levi said. “These programs add an invaluable dimension to a student’s academic, cultural, and professional development, and provide advantage in an increasingly competitive job market,” he said.
Through the School of Nursing’s Medical Mission Study Abroad in Honduras, nursing students will work with local health care practitioners and patients in clinics, hospitals and orphanages in Tegucigalpa’s urban centers and in rural communities on the island of Roatan.
Students in the Tropical Ecology in Costa Rica trip will experience tropical nature firsthand while staying at biological stations in the Guanacaste Conservation Area, which encompasses both tropical rain and dry forests and has access to the Pacific Ocean.
In the Spanish program in Cuernavaca, Mexico, students will live with local families and spend a weekend in Acapulco.
During 10 days in San Jose, Costa Rica, business students will visit public and private companies, business schools, and newspapers. Also in San Jose, students studying sociology and criminal justice will meet with representatives of Costa Rican law enforcement offices, corrections system and the country’s equivalent of the FBI.
Students will study Italian language and culture while cruising the Mediterranean for 14 days, stopping in Naples, Venice, Croatia, Sicily, Barcelona, Cannes and Livorno. Special studies in English literature will be based in Siena, Venice and Milan.
Students can study both French and history while visiting Paris, Caen, battlefields in the Somme valley, Verdun, and Bastogne, Strasbourg and the French city of Langeac, sister city to Tangipahoa Parish’s Kentwood.
To enroll in the Summer 2006 Study Abroad Program contact Southeastern’s International Initiatives Office, 985‑549‑2385 or studyabroad@selu.edu. Information on each of the programs is also available online at www.selu.edu/Academics/studyabroad.
More News...
