The week of Oct. 13-19 students took part in missions emphasis week as well as the study abroad fair on Wednesday Oct. 16. Both events offered opportunities for students to learn more about the world around them and plan for the future.
Senior Children’s Ministry major Hannah Luzadder, the chair of the Apostolos group, was instrumental in putting Missions Emphasis week into motion. The week was planned by Luzadder with the help of Campus Minister Brad Wallace and a smaller leadership group of students in the Apostolos group including Cameron Higgins, Emmah Ndune and Chuck Mosely.
Luzadder elaborated on the importance of Missions Week. “It’s important because it tells the community and Milligan’s campus more about what’s out there, that missions isn’t just somewhere abroad or just being on this campus, but that it is everywhere in between.”
The week consisted of events such as Mission Indy’s informational booth in Sutton Hall, Love Thy Neighborhood speaking in convo, Christian Missionary Fellowship speaking in Chapel and several local missions coming to speak at the mission fair on Wednesday.
“It gives us an opportunity to share the importance of clubs on campus, local nonprofits and larger international missions organizations,” Luzadder said.
In the midst of missions emphasis week, Milligan also hosted its second annual study abroad fair in Sutton Hall’s lobby on Wednesday Oct 16. The study abroad fair featured international programs available to students.
Natalie Seale is a representative from Best Semester that was available to talk with students at the fair. She studied at Oxford University through Best Semester and graduated in the spring from Oral Roberts University. “I am really glad that I get the opportunity to help students like me have an amazing experience through study abroad,” Seale said.
Other programs that had informational booths included GEO Study Abroad, CEA Study Abroad and Best Semester, as well as Milligan’s booth advertising trips such as the humanities tour. At these booths, students had the opportunity to speak to representatives about available programs.
Some programs are available regardless of a student’s field of study. Other programs, like Best Semester, has specific programs catered to different majors. They have a program at Oxford University that is specific to English majors, a Los Angeles film study program specific for communications majors and a program in Nashville for music majors.
Dr. Allysha Martin, associate professor of Spanish and humanities, was in charge of putting together the study abroad fair. “The goal of the fair is to make students and faculty alike aware of the opportunities available to them,” Martin said.
Martin believes that every student should take the opportunity to study abroad for several reasons: “97% of students who study abroad say they experience personal growth while studying abroad,” Martin said. “Especially when talking about confidence and adapting to stressful situations students learn a lot about themselves.”
Recently, Milligan has added several study abroad programs to make it easier for students to travel and study wherever in the world they wish to go.
Headline photo: Best Semester Representative at Study Abroad Fair.