My goal for this feature is to introduce the idea of opportunities to travel during J Term. URI's Office of International Education tends to differentiate itself from our traditional J Term offerings, and it was my hope that these testimonials would encourage students to take advantage of experiential-based courses.  Since we aren't provided much data about students who travel over the J Term, I recruited some friends who have either taken one of these courses or plan to take a course like this in the future.

 

I first reached out to Isabella Silverman via email, a senior ocean engineering major, and asked her to provide me with a testimonial regarding her J Term abroad in the Dominican Republic. I really wanted to feature a student who was able to travel abroad and take an experiential-based course within their major. Isabella's J Term course focused on Humanitarian Engineering and how certain designs can impact the community, which also happens to be one of her passions.

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I then reached out to Christi Brennan, a junior marketing major, since she is currently enrolled in KIN 407: exercise therapy.  The course is offered in Hawaii this J Term and will allow students to engage in tropical exercise opportunities, such as swimming, surfing, and hiking. I want students to understand the benefits of not only taking an accelerated course but also the benefit of traveling to another geographical region and experiencing different cultures.