What does the Kennedy Center mean by “Expand your world?” An important part of a BYU education involves academic experiences around the world. Students gain experience in a truly global classroom through BYU international programs, including internships, study abroad, field study, and direct enrollment. Here’s what a few of our Global Opportunity Scholarship recipients said after completing their program:
“I remember walking between government offices in downtown Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, with Professor Ty Turley and talking to him about graduate school options. Minutes later we were trying to set up an appointment with the top official in the Ministry of Health, and I found myself thinking this was the epitome of development work with a political science emphasis. There I was working with a government official to create better policy in a country beset by poverty. I was a world away from Provo and my classes, but I realized my academic training had prepared me for this real-world experience. That experience in turn is preparing me for the research I want to do and the future career I would like as an international development program evaluator.”
—James Hodgson, Political Science, Impact Evidence Field Study, Tanzania
“One of the most meaningful cultural experiences I had in the Czech Republic was in a clinical setting. I did not speak Czech and most of the patients did not speak English. . . . It changed the way I will forever practice nursing.”
—Ashlyn Moore, Nursing, Czech Republic Internship
“This experience was life-changing and even more impactful for me because my heritage is Samoan. There are many things I learned about the differences in health care and how people receive needed treatment. Opportunities for preventative care is so much cheaper but not available for much of the world. Once while assisting a cardiologist from the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota we were screening children for rheumatic heart disease when we examined a five-year-old girl who had a severe case of rheumatic heart disease. This little girl needed surgery. I had consulted with and translate for Dr. Nkomo and helped explain to the family what this doctor would do to save their daughter’s life.
“As we worked together, Dr. Nkomo and I became close friends. Before we left Samoa he invited me to come and job shadow him at the Mayo Clinic—and so, in August, after getting back to the U.S. I traveled to Minnesota to shadow a surgeon at a world-class hospital.
This remarkable experience occurred just as I’m starting the process to prepare and apply to medical schools across the nation. None of these opportunities would have happened for me if I had stayed in Provo.”
—Taylor Avei, Biology, Samoa Rheumatic Relief Program