A group of Ball State Students stands in front of an I Heart San Juan statue in the heart of the city. The students in the middle hold a red flag with a white Ball State University Logo. You can see colorfully painted buildings on the left and right side of the photo, along with a bright blue sky. The students are smiling for the photo. Photo provided by Dr. Jean Marie Place.

 

This spring, students had the opportunity to take a trip to Puerto Rico with faculty and other studious travelers through the Ball State study abroad program. The program saw students spending an entire semester studying in the capital city of San Juan.

Faculty on the study abroad trips travel alongside students, and spend the semester teaching Ball State classes in English at a host university.  One faculty member that traveled along to San Juan this spring, Dr. Jean Marie Place, is a veteran of the study abroad program.

Place has been on several trips with the study abroad program, including the pilot program for the semester long study abroad programs in Mexico, and several programs through Ball State’s partnership with the Kentucky Institute for International Studies (KIIS).

Each trip she has been on has been a unique experience, as students are immersed in different cultures and learn to apply and interpret their studies in a new light.

“I think it expands their understanding of the world,” Place said. “It’s just really neat for them to understand the issues from a different perspective, a global perspective.”

This spring, students are staying at the University of Puerto Rico Rio Piedras, the largest and oldest higher education institution in the Caribbean. While there, students expand their understanding while spending time immersed in the rich culture of Puerto Rico.

For the students of the College of Health, Place offers a global public health course, which is only offered through study abroad programs. She immerses her students in a new, global environment as they learn about global health.

Her classes volunteer with global health organizations and interact with public health students at the host institutions. The course offers more opportunities for applied experiences, and Place is intentional in fostering such experiences.

“So, in Mexico, for example, I was able to take my students on an overnight trip to this rural area of Mexico,” Place said. “And we were able to apply a lot of concepts, in class, to this experience that they were having on this overnight trip.”

Place has even seen the impacts of study abroad experiences on her own life and career. She has found that spending time immersed in other cultures helps her to grow her worldview, and she detailed the importance of learning from healthcare professionals around the world.

The study abroad program has helped students to have meaningful, applied experiences in their areas of education, while expanding their perspectives with a more global worldview. To Place, study abroad is an invaluable experience for students, that teaches participants so much more than the education from the classes that are taught.

“There’re so many reasons to do a study abroad, just in terms of character development,” Place said. “It’s really important for us to do hard things and to learn that hard things don’t last forever.”