International Scholars Program
I learned about the International Scholars Program from one of my study abroad roommates in summer 2018. This program helps students who don't necessarily have international majors receive a global education in a meaningful and measurable way. It's designed to have students attend four global campus events, take four internationally focused courses, learn a new language or study abroad and complete an ePortfolio to showcase all their work. I chose to do this program because I enjoy learning about globalization and how humans interact with one another across countries, cultures and languages. I find that global learning has a meaningful impact on how I view the world, so I'm always looking for new ways to explore global perspectives.
World Communications Systems:
International Humanitarianism
For my ISP-coded class, I took the time to learn a little more about communicating for the greater good. This humanitarian communications class focused on the positive deviance idea, and how we could use it in our careers or any future humanitarian campaigns. I truly enjoyed the focus on how we, as upcoming college graduates, can make a positive difference in the world. For my final humanitarian communications project, I developed a strategic plan to address overtourism problems in Barcelona, with a particular focus on learning what locals want for their city.
Language & Culture ​
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The study of language from an anthropologist's perspective is absolutely fascinating. This class covered the basics of language documentation and revitalization; language and class, gender, race and ethnicity; and language evolution and history.
Linguistic anthropology is a topic that continues to enthrall me. I can see how the subject plays into my personal experiences, and enjoy seeing how it integrates into general contemporary social trends. How someone's language impacts how they think as well as interact with others and the physical world is a topic that I love to continue learning about, even several years after this class.
Comparative Politics
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Learning how to understand history through different lenses truly helps someone understand the world in unique and important ways. This class looked at history through the development of democracy in Western European countries in comparison to Latin American countries. One feature was examining the idea of what it takes for people to implement a democracy, and how democracies function differently in different countries. My professor also used this class as a call to action about our role in our government and our democracy.
History of Astronomy
This history of astronomy course covered everything from the first time humans started looking at the stars. Learning how humans advanced from naked-eye astronomy to ancient Egyptian understanding to the beginnings of physics truly helped me appreciate how deep human history is. In particular, I enjoyed the unit on archaeoastronomy, the study of ancient ruins and their astronomical purposes. For this class, our final projects were to create our own ancient astronomical instruments, so I built a sundial that accurately displayed time for the Central Florida area.
Campus Life Events
My campus life events all centered around UF's art museum: the Harn. Art museums and exhibits never fail to excite me, as I enjoy seeing how someone else perceives the world or wants the world to perceive something. Three of my events were internationally themed temporary exhibits: The Great Catastrophe: Remembering WWI, 1914-1918, The World to Come: Art in the Age of the Anthropocene and ReMaking History: Art in Time. These collections examined the impact that humans have on the world. The first two focus on how humans physically affect the world around us, while the third examined how humans define and create their own histories. All three exhibits also featured works from artists from a wide range of cultures, ethnicities and races.
These exhibits all made me think about humans in a broader sense than I generally tend to. Instead of only thinking about me and my daily life, I instead thought about myself as a part of a group. I exist as a part of a collective human society, and our combined effect on the world reflects that. Additionally, some of the exhibits showcased the negative impacts that humans have on the built environment. This made me ponder global issues that we should all be working together to solve, but aren't. This connected to what I learned in the International Humanitarianism class, and what sorts of ways I can contribute to lasting positive change.
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Overall Reflection
Throughout my time in this program, I grew and developed my own awareness of the global world. Through taking these classes, I became more aware of my own place in the context of history. I learned more about how human society got to its current state, as well as ways we communicate with one another for our collective betterment. I enjoyed learning how my communications degree can be used in international contexts, as well as how to interact with the world in a respectful way. The collective effect of taking these international courses truly expanded my education for understanding and working in a globalized world.
I also grew into a different person while completing the study abroad component of this program. My experiences in Italy truly taught me what kind of person I want to continue being once I enter the workforce. I want to be able to showcase my independence and self-sufficiency on top of my love for travel and experience new cultures. All the time I spent in Italy prepared me for my upcoming adventures to other countries, as well as working in other cultures and countries. This trip, on top of all my international studies, showed me how important travel is to truly be a global citizen.
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Overall, the International Scholars Program was a great outlet for discovering the other internationally minded student on campus and enhancing my UF experience so that I could get the best education I could. This program helped me develop my skills for engaging in international and/or multicultural discussions, keeping up with international news and putting my public relations skills to work in international contexts. I continue to be grateful that I joined this program and learned so much more about who I am through its requirements.