Warm Winter Wishes

With the fall semester drawing to a close and a new year quickly approaching, the World Learning team has looked back at some of the UGRAD students’ amazing and transformative experiences of the past four months, including including those of students like Simon Jean Francois from Panama who joined the rugby team at Juniata College in Pennsylvania and traveled throughout the region to compete or Dusan Petrovic of Serbia who completed 250 hours of an internship this semester doing independent research in food analysis/nanotechnology at North Dakota State University, and Patriluz Manongsong of the Philippines who was accepted to the Honors College at Bennett due to her academic achievements in the first half of the fall semester.

Current students and even alumni may also want to find some quiet time at the end of the year to reflect on the value of the Global UGRAD Program and what it has enabled you to achieve. The experience likely was beyond anything you could have predicted when you applied to the program and, for alumni, continues to play a role in shaping who you are.

That sense of looking back and taking stock is especially important for those 38 UGRAD students who will depart this month. Finishing the program is about much more than completing your coursework and getting good grades.  It means that you have engaged in community service, been involved on campus, and represented your countries as informal ambassadors. Congratulations on your many accomplishments! As we discussed at the Re-entry Workshop, UGRAD is a journey that does not end when you step on the plane to return home. There will be continued opportunities for engagement with the State Department, World Learning, and your fellow alumni, but only if you take advantage of them. The time is right to think about the possibilities for everyday leadership and seize them.

Best wishes for a happy holiday season.

– World Learning Global UGRAD Team


Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *