Shelbe Rodriguez:
Welcome to the LU Moment. I’m Shelbe Rodriguez, social media and digital marketing manager here at Lamar University and you guessed it: I am back to host this week’s episode of the LU Moment where we showcase the great events, activities, programs and people that make LU such an amazing place. Speaking of, high school juniors and seniors, listen, Lamar University is excited to welcome you to campus for Cardinal Boo! A spooktacular open house event so you’ll have the opportunity to meet representatives from our five academic colleges, interact with current LU students, tour campus and residence halls and get an in depth look at life at LU. It doesn’t get any better than that, not to mention you can also wear a Halloween costume, fun, fun. There will also be prizes awarded to the most unique costume, so be ready. Now, to register for this spooktacular event, you can visit lamar.edu/cardinalview. It will just be a great time for you to just see or picture yourself here at Lamar University.
Cardinal Shoutouts (1:00)
Alright, now it is time for some Cardinal shout outs! You guys know, our Lamar University alumni are constantly breaking down barriers, impacting change, making discoveries and just doing work that matters, so it’s time for our Cardinal shout outs for our alumni making headlines.
First up, LU alum, Trodarius Provo who recently launched his baking business, Cake Chemistry, so if you have a sweet tooth, be sure to visit cakechem.com and check out his site. Next up, we have alum Kaitlyn Maxwell who just recently accepted a position with Aerodyne as a spacesuit project engineer. That is huge, Kaitlyn, we are so proud of you. Lastly, but certainly not least, Meagan (Ravey) Smith recently named Beaumont ISD’s overall district level elementary school teacher of the year. She was also named teacher of the year for her campus at Sally Curtis Elementary School. Congrats to all of those Cardinals. We are so proud of everything that you guys do in your community and throughout the world. If you are an LU alum and you have exciting news or updates about your life that you want to share with us, be sure to visit lamar.edu/alumni and submit your class note. You never know, you might hear your Cardinal shout out on our next episode.
(2:16)
Something more exciting as well. Study abroad is back, baby. It is back at LU and we are pumped about it. I have Mary Alice Haas here today. Mary is the study abroad coordinator within the office of International Education and Services and for our Cardinals that want to learn how they can become global citizens, listen Mary knows all things study abroad. Mary, thank you so much for joining me today.
Mary Alice Haas: (2:37)
Thanks, Shelbe! I’m so glad to be here, what an amazing podcast!
Shelbe Rodriguez:
Yes, yes. So, Mary, tell our audience a little bit about the office of International Education and Services.
Mary Alice Hass: (2:50)
Well, I think the best way to break down what our office does is we are the home of all things in terms of international students and we have degree-seeking international students, so students who come from overseas that pursue a four-year degree or a master’s program or a Ph.D. program here at Lamar and we are really their home, their point of contact. We run town halls, we communicate with them from their very first step, finding out about Lamar all the way to their graduation. It’s a really special home for our international students. I’m so lucky as the study abroad office to be in this home surrounded by beautiful flags. We have a flag from every country of every international student here at Lamar, so if you haven’t been into our office, I encourage you to just stop in. It’s a wonderful environment. It’s colorful, bright, we try to make it as homey as possible, but it’s the perfect place to host study abroad because global citizens are citizens who interact with different cultures in within their home, outside of their home, within the United States, outside the United States, so I’m just very proud to be a part of this office, Shelbe and I’m just so glad that you’re here in you’re here in our beautiful conference room surrounded by these flags that I’m talking about.
Shelbe Rodriguez: (4:04)
Yes, thank you so much for having me in here, I love it. Now, tell us, what is study abroad exactly?
Mary Alice Haas: (4:09)
Study abroad is an opportunity for students to say, “what are some amazing academic goals that I have that could be really impactful from learning in another country or what personal goals that I have?” Whether that’s learning a language, experiencing a sport outside of your hometown, whatever that is, it’s an opportunity for students to pursue that in a completely new culture and context. I always like to say, it’s that blend of academic goals, personal goals and professional goals.
Shelbe Rodriguez: (4:41)
I love how you put that. I never thought to strategically choose where you go. I thought it was kind of like, I’ve always wanted to go to Spain, let’s go to Spain!
Mary Alice Haas:
Yeah and honestly, Shelbe, that’s the most important step in the whole journey and I’m so lucky to have had people who have corrected me and kind of helped me make better choices in my programs because it’s what led me to my career and my social views and my political views. I couldn’t imagine having studied abroad in a different location. That’s what I try to do here at Lamar is really bring that process to students and help them and foster them to pick a program that’s best for them.
Shelbe Rodriguez: (5:19)
I love that. I want to do something fun. Let’s take a moment to debunk a few study abroad myths. I know a lot of students say, “I can’t study abroad because I can’t afford it.” What do you say to that.
Mary Alice Haas: (5:33)
Financial barriers, that is the greatest barrier for study abroad and coming into this position is I believe the only way to do that is to face barriers head on, so that’s become one of my goals within this office is to break that myth down, but also, it’s a truth. It’s a truth and a myth. Study abroad does cost money and it can be expensive, however it doesn’t mean you can’t afford it. A lot of times students come in and they see a number and it’s something they can’t fathom paying. When I was in college, I never wrote a check more than $1,000. How on earth would I consider a program? What I like to do is tell students, one, that they are never alone in this journey. I am there to take away any fear that they have and help them with every step of the process.
(6:21)
I’ll set you up with someone from financial aid and scholarships first to see what financial aid and scholarships can count towards your short-term program or your long-term program. Let’s take that amount of money off whatever that is within your program. What’s an appropriate amount of money that maybe a student could save weekly or monthly to hit one goal that they have for study abroad? That could be five dollars a week, ten dollars a week, it could be half a paycheck in my case when I was in college, but then we look at outside scholarships as well as our office of scholarships. The reason I say that last is because a lot of times you don’t know what financial aid and scholarships can count towards whether it’s your short-term program or your long-term you’re going to receive. We try to break it down first logistically, what can we guarantee students, then we look at scholarships. For the business school, there are two here: one for graduate students, one for undergraduate. For the honors college, there’s also a scholarship. Our office gives away a $200 study abroad fee grant to every student that qualifies and it’s a very minimum qualification. Almost all students get that award.
(7:27)
Then, we also started a new study abroad scholarship fund which we are going to start fundraising for this year. The number one criteria in the rubric is to support students in financial need. That’s a way to really look at students and say from my office perspective, I don’t want to say guarantee, but we can really strongly tell you that we can support you in what we’re doing of you cannot afford it. When you look at the research of study abroad, we just want to make sure that every student is never looking at a number and saying I cannot do that. That should never be the case. That is my mission, so I’ll walk a student hand by hand throughout the entire process of saving for a program, applying for scholarships and I just want everyone out there to know, finance is a real concern, but it shouldn’t be something that should prevent you from going abroad and I’m here to help you with everything in terms to that.
Shelbe Rodriguez: (8:24)
Our next myth: most students may think, “I don’t speak the native language, so I’m going to struggle in another country.” What do you say to that?
Mary Alice Haas: (8:33)
That’s a very valid concern and that can make students very nervous because when you think about going to a new community, it’s like “where am I going to find friends, where do I meet friends, how do I communicate with a grocery store clerk, someone on public transportation.” One, that is the beauty of study abroad: interacting with people that do speak another language, the humbling effects it has on you and it allows students to communicate in completely different ways than they’ve ever known. I’ll just unpack: when you study abroad, you’ll be taking classes if you’re doing an exchange semester. You’ll be taking classes in all English, so you’ll be communicating with professors who speak English as well as other students and it gives you the unique opportunity to improve your language if there is some language barrier between the two of you. If you can’t understand someone, it just gives you an opportunity to better approach that situation. In terms of everyday life, it’s pretty beautiful being surrounded by a completely different language. I would say that’s one of my favorite parts of studying abroad and it allowed me to build relationships with people in completely different ways. Bringing that home, I think it really humbles you and helps you understand what it’s like knowing how to communicate with English as a first language. Because we have so many amazing people in the United States with English as a second language and it just humbles you, like I can’t believe I don’t know three, four, five different languages. So, just to debunk that quickly, yes, you’ll be able to take all your courses in English, but two, it’s a beautiful challenge that really helps you improve your inner cultural competence when you’re in a different language. That’s kind of my answer to that.
Shelbe Rodriguez: (10:24)
Some students may not understand the importance of becoming a global citizen especially when it comes to employers and what they may think and how they may feel seeing that on their resume, so what is the importance of becoming a global citizen?
Mary Alice Haas: (10:37)
I ripped this poster off the wall before we came in here and it has like a million different study abroad quotes, so I just have to be humble and say these aren’t coming off the top of my head, but 59% of employers in a study said that study abroad would be valuable in an individual’s career later on within their organization. 80% of study abroad students reported that studying abroad allowed them to better adapt in a diverse work environment.
kind of see that paired together in that employers are trying to hire students who are better adapted in work environments. My favorite statistic is 97% of study abroad students found employment within 12 months of graduation when only 49% of all college graduates found employment in the same period. I think that statistic really speaks for itself in terms of hiring and really, you just being able to use and speak about your study abroad experience in an interview. It’s so authentic and it allows employers to know that you know how to problem solve. Because you’ve navigated a city on your own, how to buy groceries, how to live, how to communicate with other people, how to get around. That gives you a different edge in terms of problem solving, taking initiative, working on projects. It’s huge. Study abroad is an incredible opportunity in college that will follow you through your entire professional development.
Shelbe Rodriguez: (12:09)
I think one thing that our students kind of worry about is that they’ll miss out on so many things while they are away. That could be a barrier as to why they say, “I’m not going to do it. I’ll miss my family, I’ll miss my friends down here.” How do you combat that barrier?
Mary Alice Haas: (12:24)
Absolutely and that’s something I can speak to because I felt that so much. I didn’t decide to study abroad until I was a junior which was very late. I encourage students to plan and prepare their first day of school, their freshman year. It’s is the best time to financially and academically plan for that. I honestly could never imagine a college experience different than what I went through and I had so many peers that saw me, I had two roommates that lived with me before and after I studied abroad and the most common message I hear from my friends is “I wish I would have studied abroad and seeing you study abroad made me realize what an amazing transformative experience it is.” That’s what I say to those thinking about it is really it is more of a transformative experience than you think it is.
Shelbe Rodriguez: (13:14)
I love that we give our students that opportunity. I know I just told you that I just came back from California, never been to California before, but it kind of puts into perspective how big the world really is and how much we haven’t experienced yet or haven’t learned or seen with our own eyes. I think it’s great that you’re here as a mentor, as a support system for our students to be able to have that global experience.
Mary Alice Haas: (13:40)
Thanks, Shelbe! That’s a great point that Shelbe brought up about decentering yourself and until it hits you it’s kind of a jarring experience in the best way, but when you realize by going abroad, leaving the town, going 30 minutes away, when you realize that there are so many opportunities out there for you to seize and what’s on the other side of fear because you never experience what’s on the other side of your nervousness. Until you do that, you won’t experience all the growth that comes and all the beautiful things that come. When you have that experience, it really opens up what you’ll pursue after that. When students study abroad, they think their world is limitless because they have been decentered. This world expands far beyond what I had originally saw for myself. I just want to say shout out to Shelbe, that’s a great point. It can happen anywhere.
Shelbe Rodriguez: (14:37)
Yeah! Alright guys, Mary, thank you so much for joining me today.
Mary Alice Haas: (14:42)
Absolutely! It’s been a pleasure, Shelbe. What you do for Lamar is admirable and I’m just so proud to have you as the representation of us on the media and in person. It’s a pleasure working with you
Shelbe Rodriguez: (14:53)
Aw! Thank you so much! This is Shelbe Rodriguez, social media and digital marketing manager here at Lamar University, the pride of Southeast Texas.