Photo by: Niles Garrison

By: Niles Garrison, Staff Writer

A total of 118 students participated in 13 different study abroad programs during the 2022-2023 year. Morehouse College has taken substantial initiative to encourage students to travel abroad.

“These unique and life-changing experiences provide students with invaluable academic, personal, and professional growth,” Jeanine White, Coordinator of the Study Abroad Office, said.

Members of the Office of International Education (OIE) at Morehouse College have expressed the importance of study abroad to their students, who expand their worldview and improve their leadership skills from these new experiences.

“Study Abroad will shape a Morehouse student into a more informed, compassionate, flexible, and educated leader,” Mariana Montgomery, Director of International Education, said.

The OIE hosted an International Education Symposium on Aug. 30, 2023, to showcase previous trips from the ‘22 – ‘23 year. Morehouse students of all years had the opportunity to talk about their experiences with posters and oral presentations.

“The Symposium allowed me to share the benefits of studying abroad with my peers,” Jelani Massey, a junior who traveled to Germany and Mexico with the OIE, said.

Student presenter Evan Spann was fortunate to travel to Liberia and South Africa during the ‘22- ‘23 year. “It’s essential. Black people need international experience because we bring a different perspective to everywhere we go” Spann said.

The symposium also included a panel of three students who completed semester long study abroad programs. Khristopher Lucy, a junior who completed a semester long study in Buenos Aires at the Universidad del Salvador in Buenos Aires, Argentina, spoke greatly about his trip abroad.

All presenters touched on how study abroad helped them become open minded to other cultures and to appreciate what you have.

“If there’s one thing I want you guys to understand throughout my talk, it’s to go abroad,” President David A. Thomas said in his speech of the importance of going abroad to the students in attendance.

“I hope those Morehouse students who have not yet been abroad came away understanding how important an international experience is to their matriculation and their future,” White said.

Montgomery and White hope to gradually increase their number of students participating this upcoming year. Their goal is to achieve an increase in the annual percentage of students studying abroad from 5% to 10% and a significant increase in the number of students who participate in semester-long study abroad experiences from 4 to 110.

The OIE tends to host weekly Morehouse Abroad Information Session as well as hosted events and partnerships with the purpose of maintaining student interest and engagement. They hope to reach students through their marketing and social media campaign to promote the importance and necessity of study abroad.

Copy Edited by: Colin Royal Managing Editor of Print