UNews - Semester at Sea

Semester at Sea experience the opportunity of a lifetime

trevor.kenney — Fri, 20 Oct 2023 17:36:52 +0000

It was an opportunity of a lifetime that Taylor Williams initially dismissed as a longshot at best. Years later, however, the timing proved perfect when the Semester at Sea program once again caught the attention of the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge student.

Semester at Sea is just as it sounds. Close to 600 students set sail from Belgium Sept. 9, 2023, for a semester of learning in shipboard classrooms, through field experiences and service projects. When the ship docks Dec. 22 in Thailand, Williams and his fellow passengers will have experienced 11 cities in as many countries, covering three continents, on a journey spanning 105 days.

Taylor Williams in Greece.

The excursion is made possible through the Brawn Family Foundation scholarship, which is available to ULethbridge students across all disciplines.

“This scholarship means absolutely everything to me, because I personally do not have the funds in order to be able to make something like this happen on my own,” says Williams.

Eligible participants must be a second-year undergraduate student, a Canadian resident or permanent resident and have been accepted to participate by Semester at Sea. Applicants must have successfully completed 10 courses with a minimum GPA of 2.75 and will be required to answer essay questions for consideration, focusing on how they expect their voyage will impact their education and how the experience will be translated and promoted on campus upon their return.

Williams has always loved travelling, and the fourth-year psychology student saw those opportunities smothered the last few years by restrictions surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I only have a few classes left before I finish my degree, so it was that perfect combination of school and travel that really drew me in,” he says, adding once he looked closer at the international education opportunity, he became obsessed with it. “I was like, I need to do this. This is the one thing that I want in my life right now and I’m going to do everything possible to make sure that I’m going on this trip.”

Williams was beyond nervous as he logged into an online meeting which was billed as a last chance for committee members to ask a few questions of the scholarship finalists.

Taylor Williams, with the Semester at Sea ship in the sea below.

“They told me they were playing with me, and that I actually was the recipient of the scholarship. I was at a loss for words. It was like a dream come true,” he recalls of the surprise announcement.

Williams is looking forward to the global perspective Semester at Sea offers participants, with stops at such cities as Casablanca, Barcelona and Dubai. He sees the opportunity to experience first-hand and meet people from diverse cultures, as a real benefit for a future career in psychology. A self-described “history nerd,” Williams is also excited about visiting Ho Chi Minh City, where he hopes to gain a better understanding of the Vietnam War.

The experience awaiting him would not be possible without benefit of the scholarship, and he’s extremely thankful to the Brawn Family Foundation.

“It means the world to me. It’s really, truly something amazing that they’re giving a student an opportunity of a lifetime,” says Williams.

Kelley Buckley (BA ’84) is director of the Brawn Family Foundation, as well as a Semester at Sea participant while she was attending ULethbridge.

"Our family are strong believers in the value of Semester at Sea. We have seen how life changing this program has been for our family and want to share this experience with others,” she says. “As a ULethbridge alumni, I am proud to be able to help others experience this program. Our hope is to send off a student and bring back a world ambassador. As Semester at Sea states, “let the world be your campus”.”

Williams adds he wants his story to encourage others to consider the Semester at Sea, no matter how daunting the application process might seem.

“I'm going to be completely honest. I thought there wasn’t a chance that I was going to get the scholarship. But it’s definitely worth putting your name in the hat.”

Kinesiology student Leeza Voyevoda eager to experience all Semester at Sea program has to offer

trevor.kenney — Wed, 11 Jan 2023 16:06:56 +0000

Leeza Voyevoda has never been afraid to expand her comfort zone. That intrepid spirit gave her the confidence to leave her hometown university for what she hoped would be a better experience at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge, and now, it has led her to an international educational opportunity as the Brawn Family Foundation scholarship recipient and the Semester at Sea student.

Leeza Voyevoda's excursion began in Dubai and will conclude in Germany.

“It was one of my co-workers who told me he was doing this exchange thing and how he was going to all these amazing countries and taking a semester of school,” says Voyevoda about being introduced to the program. “I literally went to my computer at work, looked it up and started applying 20 minutes later.”

Semester at Sea is just as it sounds — close to 600 students board a ship and set sail for a semester of learning in shipboard classrooms, through field experiences and service projects as they visit 11 countries and three continents over the course of 106 days. Voyevoda departed Dubai on January 5, 2023, and will conclude her semester by docking in Germany on April 20.

For the fourth-year kinesiology major, the excursion is the perfect ending to her post-secondary journey — one that started at ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Calgary before she realized she needed a more personal experience.

“I felt like I needed to be able to make connections with my professors and after my first year at U of C, I heard some good things about the U of L, so I decided to give it a shot,” says Voyevoda. “Within my first few classes here, I was able to go up to a professor and have a conversation and that made a world of difference to me.”

Before long she was enrolled in independent study opportunities, working closely with her professors and getting hands-on experience. She gravitated to research studies with Dylan Brown and Drs. Scott Rathwell and Jon Doan, and now is considering a career working as an athletic therapist with high performance athletes. Before that though, she’s eyeing graduate school, and Semester at Sea may well help lay the foundation.

“I’ve always been travel-focused and after high school I was able to travel around the Baltics a little bit and visited Sweden and Russia,” she says, noting her family is originally from Russia. “I’ve always had the itch to travel and one of my big goals is to do my graduate school outside Canada. I love to explore and get different perspectives, opinions and world views, and I see this as a step towards that.”

She’ll take four courses over the semester, including a required global studies course and another — disability across the lifespan — that’s in the realm of kinesiology. But, having already completed all her core courses and electives at ULethbridge, she had the freedom to expand her interests and one such opportunity was to study art.

“I never had the time to take art before, but I’ve always loved it and if I hadn’t taken kinesiology, I’d have studied art. Whenever I travel, I go to museums and different art installations and now I get to do it as coursework in these amazing countries — I’m so lucky,” she says.

She’s especially enthused about the first few stops on the voyage, including ports in Kenya, where she’ll get a chance to go on safari, and India. She also recognizes how fortunate she is to be chosen as this year’s scholarship winner, noting it would be impossible for her to pay for a trip of this magnitude.

“I still can’t even comprehend it,” says Voyevoda. “I’m just so grateful to the Brawn family and how generous they are. This will quite literally change my life in the most amazing way possible.”

U of L students to participate in Semester at Sea, including first recipients of Brawn Family Foundation scholarships

caroline.zentner — Fri, 31 Aug 2018 16:08:53 +0000

The first recipients of the Semester at Sea scholarships from the Brawn Family Foundation will soon set sail on the adventure of a lifetime.

Amanda Sakundiak admits to being bitten by the travel bug. Here she is at the Gunung Kawi Temple in Bali, Indonesia.

Amanda Sakundiak and Mackenzie Salmon, scholarship recipients, and Prachi Sanghavi, who’s participating in the Semester at Sea program at her own expense, set sail from Hamburg, Germany on Sept. 9 for a semester of learning in the shipboard classrooms and through field experiences and service projects in countries around the world.

During the semester, they’ll sail around the world with stops in 11 countries, including Germany, Spain, Ghana, South Africa, Mauritius, India, Myanmar, Vietnam, China, Japan and the United States, before disembarking in San Diego, California on Dec. 23.

“I’m very thankful,” says Sakundiak, a second-year student majoring in marketing in the Dhillon School of Business. “There’s no way I could do this without the Brawn Family Foundation scholarship. I’m very thankful to them for donating.”

Kelley Buckley (BASc (BA) ’84), director of the foundation and one of Dr. Robert Brawn’s (LLD ’16) daughters, participated in Semester at Sea, as did her sister, her own children and her sister’s children. They wanted to share the opportunity to participate in the powerful program with other U of L students through the Brawn Family Foundation.

“I can’t express in words how incredibly grateful I am for the Brawn Family Foundation,” says Salmon, a kinesiology student entering her fourth year. “I am looking forward to seeing the world and exploring the diversity within it. I want to return to the U of L with a first-hand and greater appreciation for global awareness. I look forward to applying my new discoveries to my future education and career.”

Mackenzie Salmon has been on plenty of adventures in South America, including going volcano boarding in Nicaragua.

“In addition to learning to be a conscientious traveller, I hope to find experiences that push me outside my comfort zone,” says Sanghavi, a third-year neuroscience student. “I also want to understand new ways of seeing the world. My anthropology course taught me so much about different cultures’ outlooks on the world and I can’t wait to see them during my travels.”

The U of L students will join about 500 other students from around the world, although primarily from North America, on the MV World Odyssey, a 10-deck ship with nine classrooms.

“I still can’t believe it,” says Sakundiak.

Prachi Sanghavi is a keen traveller who likes to experience new cultures and adventures.

The students will be sharing their experiences through web and video logs. Sakundiak’s blog can be found at Amanda Abroad; Salmon’s blog can be found at Kenzie Around the World and Sanghavi’s vlog can be found at Prachi’s Vlogs.

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Semester at Sea experience the opportunity of a lifetime

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