WKU Owensboro News

The Student Government Association at WKU has awarded scholarships to six WKU students taking courses WKU Study Away courses during Winter Term 2016.

Ian LaBarge, a sophomore film major from Paducah, will study in Utah at the Sundance Film Festival with Dr. Ted Hovet; Jada Jefferson, a freshman performance arts major from Louisville, and Alexis Smith, a junior from Dawson Springs studying marketing with a musical theatre minor, will study Theatre and Broadway in New York with professors David Young and James Brown; Taylor Bowling, a senior civil engineering student from London, and Daniel Hammer, a senior civil engineering major from Tompkinsville, will take Total Immersion Floodplain Management with Professor Warren Campbell; and sophomore elementary education major Angel Semrick from Bowling Green will take Geographic Exploration of Hawaii with Professors Amy Nemon and Erin Greunke.

Through continued support of a Study Away scholarship, WKU Student Government Association (SGA) encourages WKU students to expand their learning opportunities off campus. SGA first began offering this scholarship to students taking a Study Away course during Winter Term 2011 and has since sponsored more than 50 scholarships, totaling over $6,000.

“It is my dream to attend a Broadway show in New York City, which fuels my dream of being an actor on Broadway,” Jefferson said.

Bowling said her Study Away course “will provide the opportunity of a lifetime to immerse myself in a new culture and learn more than I ever could from a traditional classroom setting. Learning floodplain management and transferring that to providing safer transportation and management for our communities is a benefit that I am passionate about.”

Study Away Director Jerry Barnaby said Study Away courses are an excellent complement to traditional classroom courses.

“These scholarship opportunities make a positive impact on students by giving them additional resources to take study away courses,” Barnaby said. “We appreciate SGA for supporting students and encouraging them to expand their overall academic experience. I hope other organizations will follow SGA’s lead and develop their own scholarship programs to help students expand their study away opportunities.”

Study Away offers off-campus courses that enable students to apply the lessons learned in the classroom in a practical, hands-on setting. No passport is required for Study Away courses since they take place within the United States.

Additional information about WKU Study Away is available at www.wku.edu/studyaway.  For information about the SGA Study Away Scholarship, contact Jerry Barnaby, Director of the Office of Study Away, at (270) 745-2231.

Study Away is a unit of the Division of Extended Learning and Outreach.

Contact: Jerry Barnaby, (270) 745-2231 or jerry.barnaby@wku.edu