Giving back. When it came to the giving back project, I had numerous ideas in mind. Throughout the winter semester, as a study abroad ambassador, I had done many things, but it was not till the end of the year in my queer history class HIST1400 that the idea truly came to me. Just like for this class, students were asked to do a give-back project for their community. At the time doing the work of a study abroad ambassador i knew many people in the queer community felt unsafe to travel abroad or they felt they simply did not have access due to todays political climate in many countries. And so for my giving back project i choose to do an information session on Travel Safety Abroad. However, once the project was completed my work felt, undone like there was more to produce so for my giving back project I have decide to try and create a even better presentation for those looking for safety when travelling as a queer person.
However, there is also another give-back project that I have been working on specifically for this certificate. Within the classroom and high school visit, I noticed a sense of apprehension towards studying abroad, something which was hard for me to understand it wasn’t till I sat down with various students that all said the same thing. The idea was scary there was not enough questions answered and not enough students speaking on their own experience. And so with that in mind I created the Study Abroad Chats podcast. In which I interviewed various students and co-ambassadors on their experiences. Eventually the podcast gained enough traction that they are all now on the Study Abroad instagram. And in order for this to be a community project I eventually invited students to do the interviewing (I still fabricated the scripts, worked the lights and the sound, filmed and edited the entirty of the project. This was just another way for me to help other study abroad students have a voice and gain experience within the social media space.
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