LOCAL ORGANIZATION HELPS SEND COLLEGE STUDENT ABROAD
Hopes to Interest More Students in Traveling Overseas
CHESTER, PA, April 20, 2006 -
StudyAbroad.com, a Chester-based higher education organization that has been on INC magazine's list of top 100 inner city companies four years in a row, has partnered with State University of New York at New Paltz (SUNY) to help send one of their students to New Zealand for a semester. The hope is that this will inspire more students to travel abroad and receive a life-changing international education.
The company organized a study abroad sweepstakes offering $1,000 toward a New Zealand study abroad program, provided by SUNY New Paltz, as well as $500 toward round trip airfare, provided by StudentProspector, a service of StudyAbroad.com. The two organizations ran this sweepstakes because, as Penny Schouten of SUNY New Paltz puts it, "it is a wonderful opportunity since winning part of your education (in this case a reduction in program fees) is better than winning a car or a suitcase. Physical prizes will eventually wear out or become obsolete, but an education will be with you forever and you can continue to build on it. A study abroad experience is education plus adventure and will have greater impact than if students stayed on their home campus."
The SUNY New Paltz student who won the sweepstakes is Melissa Skidelsky, a sophomore history major at the school. She won because she is interested in discovering local New Zealander's points of view on political issues, and to learn about herself by being out of her comfort zone. She is curious as to how America is viewed and wants to understand how other countries have developed their opinions about the US. She also hopes to find ways of reaching a mutual appreciation for these varying points of view. Plus, she is a hiking enthusiast and can't wait to traverse the New Zealand mountains.
StudyAbroad.com believes that more students need to take this approach to learning, and that studying abroad can lead to a more internationalized and understanding world. It is for this reason that the organization strives as hard as possible to promote study abroad.
When informed that she had won the sweepstakes, Skidelsky said, "I am super excited because I was not going to be able to afford the trip. I had to postpone my acceptance for the spring semester this year because of my financial situation. This sweepstakes enables me to consider this trip as a more realistic possibility than it was prior to the phone call."
StudyAbroad.com and SUNY New Paltz hope to hold more sweepstakes like this one in their quest to help more students go abroad. Schouten says, "We are so honored to give a student, who might not consider studying abroad because of financial limitations, the opportunity to do so."
As for Skidelsky, she'll be speaking like a true "kiwi" in no time.
StudyAbroaod.com
StudyAbroad.com is the Internet's leading source of information on educational opportunities for students to study in other countries. It is a comprehensive directory of study abroad and intensive language programs organized by subject and destination. StudyAbroad.com also offers Destination Portal Pages, a handbook serving as a guide to traveling abroad, and financial aid information. StudyAbroad.com is a service of Educational Directories Unlimited, Inc. (EDU), a leading Internet company serving higher education. Based in suburban Philadelphia, EDU's steady growth since its inception in 1989 has led to its inclusion in the Philadelphia 100, Inc. Magazine/ICIC Inner City 100 and Inc. 500 lists of fast growing businesses.
State University of New York at New Paltz
State University of New York at New Paltz is the only residential public university in the mid-Hudson region. The school offers undergraduate and graduate programs in the liberal arts and sciences that serve as a core for professional programs in the fine and performing arts, education, health care, business and engineering. The school consists of a diverse faculty of distinguished scholars and artists who collaborate across the disciplines and professional areas to inspire their students to a love of learning, a meaningful engagement with the life of the mind and an involvement in public service.