Students Receive Funds for Study Abroad Program

VALDOSTA -- Valdosta State University students Ansley Childree, a senior exercise physiology major from Valdosta, and Patrick Heenan, a senior history major from Macon, Ga., were each awarded a $250 stipend to help with costs associated with their study abroad trip to Germany this summer. Their names were chosen from among the participants scheduled to depart on May 19.

Dr. Michael Noll, associate professor of geography, and Dr. Charles Johnson, professor of history, will accompany the students on the four-week trip that includes Berlin, Dresden, Nuremberg, Munich, Weimar, Cologne and Bonn. Students will study about Hitler’s Third Reich, explore the country’s rich visual arts and history, and learn about Germany’s modern and political issues. The group will follow the historical path of Martin Luther, Beethoven and the Grimm Brothers. The trip also includes visits to a concentration camp in Buchenwald and Charlemagen’s seat of power in Aachen.

“The study abroad experience quite literally broadens the horizon of students, exposes them to other cultures and ideas, makes them more independent and ultimately more competitive when it is time to graduate and to look for jobs,” Noll said. “Time and again we hear that employers are looking for employees with some international experience.”

VSU’s Center for International Programs is sponsoring ten study abroad trips this summer including Czech Republic, Germany, Japan, China, Senegal, Greece and Turkey. In addition, VSU students can participate in one of seven programs sponsored by the European Council of the University System of Georgia, as well as in programs organized by other USG area councils. For more information regarding study abroad opportunities, visit CIP’s web site at http://www.valdosta.edu/cip/study_abroad/studyabroad.shtml