Financial Aid Available For All Off-Campus Programs
Senior Nick Madamidola pulls the oar of a worn wooden boat as he helps navigate a group of Exonians across the Ganges, a sacred river in Varanasi, India. In an experience he describes as “unforgettable,” he steadies the boat, aiming its front toward the shoreline of native saffron funeral pyres. He watches floating candles bob in the boat’s wake.
For Madamidola, this was just one of the many unique experiences he encountered during his Academy-hosted trip to India, hosted by the Academy. Exeter’s Department of Global Initiatives offers 38 separate travel experiences across four different continents. A third of the student body participated in at least one of these off-campus programs last year, in addition to 37 faculty serving as chaperones or co-learners. The school also distributed close to 150,000 dollars between the different programs to help subsidize funds, making the opportunities accessible for financial aid students. Among its vast selection of trips, Exeter offers seventeen different term or year abroad programs, which, according to Director of Global Initiatives Eimer Page, “continues to outmatch our peer schools.” With a variety of destinations ranging from France to Russia and to Ghana, abroad programs are offered for all modern languages taught at Exeter, in addition to several other programs not affiliated with any courses.
“Going out and seeing the world puts all of us in the position to make conscious and careful decisions later on that will impact the world.”
Modern languages chair Richard Schieber praised the variety of programs and the invaluable experiences each one provides. “It is already amazing that we offer eight languages,” he said. “The fact that we can give every kid who takes a language this extra opportunity in the subject brings the language program at Exeter to an even higher caliber.”
Schieber went on to explain that for the German program, the students are sent to live in Germany with a host family without the supervision of any faculty member. Typically, this provides participants with the ability to become fully immersed in the language for a few months, engaging in normal activities such as clubs and sports, but with the different aspects of the language and culture that the students would not experience in a formal classroom.
Modern languages instructor Inna Sysevich agreed with Schieber, commenting on the rarity outside of Exeter of similar opportunities. According to her, many college students don’t get a chance to go abroad, let alone other high school or boarding school students. “They get to experience total immersion,” she said. “That is an opportunity a lot of kids learning languages never even have.”
During her time at Exeter, Sysevich noted the school’s effort to make the programs more accessible, especially for students of all social statuses. “There was a time when that was not the case,” she said. “However, we pushed for it and we are proud to say we won. It is really important to us that all students are able to go.”
Indeed, while financial aid has been offered to all modern language abroad programs in the past, the 2014-15 school year was the first time in which it was offered for all travel programs. According to Sysevich, the off campus programs receive a lot of funding from tuition money. However, last year Page led an initiative on expanding the availability of financial aid. She was able to receive more “support of funds from alumni donors,” allowing her office to cover several of the hidden costs for financial aid students such as passport and visa processing fees.
Like Page, Chief Financial Officer David Hanson noted the importance of allowing more students the opportunity of off campus programs. He recognized their ability to allow more students to see new parts of the worlds and gain useful experiences that apply to other areas of their lives. “As a high school student, I was able to participate in an off campus trip to Paris and the northern coast of France and it changed my worldview and helped me in many ways,” he added. “So, speaking from my own experience, I believe these trips can be life-changing.”
Many Exeter students have found the same to be true. Upper Rachylle Hart visited the Island School in the Bahamas her lower year and described what the experience taught her. “Going abroad made me appreciate Exeter more,” she said. “It helped me realize there is a world outside of the prep school bubble. There are so many cool things you can grow up and do.”
“The only drawback,” she added, “is how much you miss it when you come back to Exeter!”
Upper Kelvin Green, currently participating in a year abroad in China, agreed. According to him, the experiences and opportunities that traveling abroad present outweigh any possible drawbacks, including the common feeling that going abroad wastes and conflicts with the opportunities at Exeter. “Although Exeter is an amazing place with amazing opportunities, it is only one small piece to our lives,” he said. “Going out and seeing the world puts all of us in the position to make conscious and careful decisions later on that will impact the world.”
Overall, students found their experiences with off-campus programs to be overwhelmingly positive and unique in many aspects. Yet, these great experiences would not have been possible without the countless help of faculty members who oversaw the programs. In her presentation to the faculty reviewing global initiatives, Page expressed her thanks to all of the different people who helped lead the programs. “I’d like to extend my deepest gratitude to all of the teachers who led our students, managed the various inevitable upsets, crises, delays, lost passports and illnesses, and who did a superb job staying in contact with me throughout their programs,” she said.
Green, also recognizing the immeasurable amount of work put in to provide students with these great opportunities, encouraged more students to take advantage of them. “We are teenagers, so the choice is whether we want to spend one more year in America versus allowing ourselves, at most a year, to be immersed in something new,” he said. “If you are considering going abroad, simply go. Take on the world, let the world take you. I have, and it has made all the difference.”
Contributions from Sophia Zu