A Westfield State College junior, Britny Kirsner of Foxboro, will spend the fall semester of her senior year as a world explorer on The Scholar Ship, a globally recognized academic program that offers students semester-long voyages on a transformed passenger ship.
President Evan S. Dobelle is proud to confer the college’s first special award for participation in The Scholar Ship. The award consists of a $10,000 donation by The Scholar Ship and $2,500 from a special fund established by the president to promote study abroad by Westfield students. This award will also be available in the fall for a student to participate in spring 2009.
Britny will begin her travels in Amsterdam, cross the Atlantic and pass through the Panama Canal and end her voyage in China. She will be living with other students from all over the world, and will engage with them on joint work and study opportunities in the various ports of call. As a condition of her award, Britny will share her experiences regularly with the Westfield community as they occur.
Britny is a sociology major and in the process of adding a business minor.
“Hearing about The Scholar Ship, I knew it was a perfect fit for me,” Britny said. “Being able to travel the world and get an education at the same time was a perfect situation.”
Britny said being able to travel will broaden her understanding in both her academic interests of sociology and business. “I have been particularly interested in how other cultures live, function and work on a daily basis,” she said. “Also, I’ll be able to see how other countries run in a business sense.”
“The most important part of my experience will be the people I meet and how we interact with one another,” she said. “I will be able to make friends and contacts all over the world.”
In addition to Britny, Westfield students will be studying in Australia, Cyprus, England, Ireland, Italy, and Germany this coming fall semester. At the same time, Westfield faculty and staff are planning a number of short-term study abroad programs for Westfield students beginning in January 2009.
Programs under consideration will offer students the chance to visit places as diverse as India, Morocco, Ghana, London, Italy, Belize, Mexico and the Caribbean Islands. All of these efforts have been encouraged by the president’s strong belief in the value of international experiences for students.
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