“Employers are interested in recent grads who can work with other people and solve problems. They want employees who are curious, flexible and who have good communication skills,” Nelson says.
According to a 2017 survey conducted by the Institute for International Education (IIE), a global international exchange organization, these are just the skills that are developed while living and learning abroad.
Study Abroad Director Anne Marsh says that for students who are studying a foreign language, spending a semester or year abroad allows them to develop language and cultural fluency that is usually not possible in any other way. But even for students who are heading into science or business fields, study abroad gives students the flexibility, cross-cultural competence and overall confidence that will serve them well throughout their careers.
“Studying abroad gave interviewees both a broader understanding of career possibilities, and the confidence to pursue these career paths,” reported IIE. “[Former study abroad participants] believe that the skills gained through study abroad had proven relevant and useful throughout their careers, particularly as they were promoted to management-level positions where communication, interpersonal skills, and the ability to understand and work with difference, were key criteria for promotion.”
Two Bridgewater alumna recently shared their stories of how study abroad impacted their career planning as they entered very different fields.
Anna Tripp ’18 spent the fall of her junior year studying abroad at the Université Savoie Mont Blanc in Chambéry, France. While there, the French and global studies double major said she took intensive French language classes and fell in love with living abroad. After graduating from Bridgewater, she moved back to France to teach English for two years and then enrolled in a graduate program in linguistics in Brussels, Belgium. She now runs a non-profit organization in Leuven, Belgium, that provides support for international professionals and their families.
“Living abroad can be really difficult,” Tripp explained. “Not only is the local language new for most people, but there is a ton of information you need to have to successfully integrate. So, we try to help people in these areas when they first arrive to have a ‘soft landing.’”
Tripp grew up in Newport News, Va., and had visited Europe once, but said that prior to studying abroad she didn’t have a clear idea of what she might do after graduation.
“I knew that I liked experiencing new cultures and languages, but I didn’t really know what I wanted to do with that passion.” She said that she appreciates the time that faculty and staff at BC spent with her to select a study abroad location and then point her to a program to teach abroad after graduation.
“The small class sizes [at Bridgewater] led me to have great relationships with my professors, which meant they were able to recommend certain routes that have led me to where I am today,” Tripp said. “I love what I do. I meet people from all over the world every day and get to hear their stories.”
Tavin Krick ’24 chose to attend Bridgewater in part because of the study abroad opportunities available. She grew up in Wernersville, Pa., and had traveled to Jamaica while in high school, but was open to studying abroad just about anywhere.
When Krick got to BC she took an interest in the sciences and decided to major in environmental science. A study abroad program at the University of Nicosia in Nicosia, Cyprus, an island nation off the coast of Greece, seemed to be the best fit for her major.
Before Krick headed off to Cyprus for the fall of her junior year, she selected the classes she would take abroad, including one in wastewater treatment that sounded interesting and complemented the classes she had taken at BC. Once she arrived, however, Krick discovered that it was actually an engineering class. She wanted to drop the class, but her professor persuaded her to stick it out. And Krick discovered a passion and a career.
“I learned all about how wastewater treatment plants work, the entire breakdown of the process of how the water is cleaned and sent back into your house,” Krick explained. “The class took things that I had already known from my classes at BC and added the engineering piece. I also learned that we are entering a water crisis because of the environmental crisis. With sea levels rising because of global warming, desalinization of sea water is becoming important. I decided that’s what I want to do: work on the engineering of desalinization.”
Krick returned to BC, completed her degree and is now pursuing a career in the U.S. Navy. She hopes to work on the desalinization and water purification systems on the U.S. Navy ships, something that she never considered prior to her semester abroad.
“I learned that I love engineering and I love travel,” Krick said of her semester abroad. “I learned a lot about myself and developed the confidence to pursue my goals. I learned to take a chance, even though I was terrified.”
Krick said that she thinks all those things will serve her well in the U.S. Navy.
“I already know what it is like to be thousands of miles away from home.”
Are you a BC alumnus who studied abroad? We’d like to hear how the experience impacted your career. Share your story here.
– Heather S. Cole
11/4/24
