Page 29 - UD Magazine Vol. 31 No. 1

have these very real goals,” says Amy Greenwald Foley, EHD13EdD, director of global outreach and partnerships. “We owe it to our community, because these students enrich every aspect of it. And we owe it to the world. It’s imperative that we graduate people who can help solve humanity’s greatest challenges.”
Since its launch in 2015, the invitation-only program has enrolled 759 students. These Blue Hens have studied indigenous ecotourism in New Zealand, culturally competent education in Barbados, immigration in Denmark. And they’ve joined forces with peers from all over the world—right in Newark—to share everything
from fashion trends to perspectives on the state of global democracy. With each picnic and presentation, they leave with greater understanding of a world that, turns out, isn’t so big after all.
For Velasco, it was coming together over a Turkish dinner table on campus—complete with traditional singing and dancing—that opened her eyes to one pathway
for serving the world in that meaningful way she’d envisioned. Following graduation, she joined the first cohort of National Health Corps, an Americorps program, in Delaware. As the community engagement coordinator, Velasco organized mobile food pantries to provide meals for the state’s most vulnerable. Now a graduate student in Colorado, she’s focused on advancing food sovereignty around the world—a field necessary for environmental and cultural health.
“I feel so lucky to have been a World Scholar,” Velasco says. “I learned the tools for empowering and uplifting communities in need. Now, I advocate for the program to incoming Blue Hens. I want to keep this legacy alive.”
ITALY
DIPLOMATIC WAYS
NEW
ZEALAND
SPAIN
GREECE
Study abroad transforms everything from your earning potential to your innate humanity—but only if you put
in the work. And that work begins long before you sink your teeth into your first Parisian croissant. It starts right here on campus.
“Travel is not magic,” says Matt Drexler, study abroad director. “There needs to be a deliberate process. We can’t just say: ‘Here’s your trip; go buy your plane ticket’.”
Enter Delaware Diplomats. Launched in 2014, the program originally began as a way to make study abroad more affordable. Participants earn three badges, Girl Scout-style, for completing multicultural activities on campus. Each badge translates to a cash award, meaning Blue Hens earn up to $1,500 toward international expenses. To date, UD has issued over 260 awards totaling more than $300,000. But in many cases, the monetary benefit is secondary.
Take Curtis Aiken, AS22. As a diplomat, he mentored a UD student from Shanghai—an experience he calls “mind altering” for all that it taught him: “Many people operate in their own bubbles, but connecting with people from different backgrounds is how we’ll get to a place of alignment in this world.”
Another diplomat, Kalli Ruffennach, AS23, attended a presentation on New Zealand, a so-called Kiwi Night where she discovered that the island country is not just a remote land of pretty beaches, but an enchanting place rich in geography and culture. She was so moved, she joined a student board to organize future programming.
These and other Blue Hens admit: They initially viewed this opportunity as the means to a global- learning end, the thing that would grant them access to Spain or Barbados or Oman where the real international education would begin. But the Diplomats quickly discovered: This program is itself a conduit for global learning—right in Newark.
“I’ve grown as a person,” Ruffennach says. “This was among the best experiences of my college career.”
LEFT: Penelope Velasco, AS19, far left, spent time teaching English in France with fellow Blue Hens Megan Bahnson, AS19, and Devon Grant, HS19.
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