By Landon Allison
News Editor
This coming summer, there are two abroad programs that St. Bonaventure University is offering its students.
These trips are taking interested students to Sorrento, Italy and Oxford, England.
Lecturer in the Jandoli School of Communication Mike Jones-Kelley is the director of the Francis E. Kelley Oxford Program.
“Very simply, the Oxford Program will change your life,” said Jones-Kelley. “It’s an incredible experience. I tell the students that this is not a trip to England. You will actually live in England.”
Jones-Kelley said adaptation was crucial to the trip.
“The students will learn very quickly that they are perfectly capable of going to another culture, another country and being perfectly comfortable. Feeling quite at home. That is forever,” said Jones-Kelley.
Jones-Kelley also said that there are great academic benefits for those students who choose to go on this trip.
“Of course, Oxford is by more-or-less common consent, the most prestigious university in the world,” said Jones-Kelley. “Our students who go will, for the rest of their lives, have a line on their resume that says, ‘Studied at Trinity College, Oxford.’”
At the moment, there are two seats remaining, according to Jones-Kelley.
Jones-Kelley said students will bring skills back with them.
“One of the things students will learn is that they are perfectly capable of being at home in the poshest of formal settings. We have a formal dinner every week called High Table,” said Jones-Kelley. “It is quite elegant. It is quite fancy. Very quickly, the students learn not to be put off by it, but rather to enjoy it.”
“The hard part about applying for the program is saying yes,” said Jones-Kelley.
Jones-Kelley said you can then go to the website for the program, www.sbu.edu/oxford.
“There is everything you ever wanted to learn about the Oxford Program, plus more,” said Jones-Kelley. “There is an acceptance process. If everything looks good, you have to pay a $250 deposit before we will process your application. The cost of the program is $6,750.”
The students are largely given free reign, said Jones-Kelley.
“We, the administrators, make an assumption that the students who go to Oxford are responsible adults, and we treat them that way. We don’t babysit you,” said Jones-Kelley.
Jones-Kelley said students come back home with a hunger for more.
“The students will come back knowing there is a whole, wide world out there, and they will forever want to have it,” said Jones-Kelley.
The history found in England cannot be matched here in the USA, said Jones-Kelley.
“Americans don’t realize how new and shiny everything on this side of the Atlantic is,” said Jones-Kelley.
Jones-Kelley said that interested students can email or call him. He said they can also stop by his office to discuss the program.
Sorrento is also being offered as a possible destination for Bonaventure students to study at.
Anna Bulszewicz, a broadcast journalism lecturer, is the Sorrento Study Abroad Program Director.
“I am in charge of everything from creating the program to managing recruitment and marketing it,” said Bulszewicz. “I have to find the folks who want to be in it, interview them and go through the application process with them, so I pretty much oversee everything in the Sorrento study abroad program.”
Bulszewicz also said that the program was brand-new for St. Bonaventure students.
“It is unique in that it has a focus on international studies coupled with digital content creation. It is open to any major,” said Bulszewicz. “This is more of a group experience to simulate what it is like to live or work abroad.”
Bulszewicz also said how this trip covers two required courses and is five weeks long.
“Right now, I have four to nine seats available,” said Bulszewicz.
In order to secure these seats, a student would first and foremost have to come see Bulszewicz to talk about it.
“We need you to apply first and provide two references,” said Bulszewicz. “In the application, it clearly states the minimum GPA required and what we are looking for in terms of a financial commitment to be considered as an applicant.”
Bulszewicz said she could be contacted by email and that she has an open-door policy for anyone who wants to come to her office and ask questions.
“It is probably easiest to email me so that I am focused and ready for you to come in and let me know what time that will be,” said Bulszewicz.
There is a level of responsibility expected of students coming on this trip Bulszewicz said.
“I’m not going to treat you like a student,” said Bulszewicz. “I am going to treat you like an employee where we go and we learn in the field how to improve in the craft of digital communication and our understanding of international relations.”
Bulszewicz said that some of their lectures are located in Pompeii, the US Embassy in Rome and at Broadcast Station in Naples.
“Our most important project is meeting with immigrants who are in the midst of the crisis and learn from them what is actually going on as they travel the sea or sell their children into human trafficking for passage,” said Bulszewicz. “We have to learn how to tell stories with these types of electronic devices. You must be savvy and be a good storyteller, know how to communicate in any field you’re in.”
Bulszewicz said that she was proud of this program and looked forward to it continuing.
“It’s the first time this abroad program is launching, and as the program director, it is a passion project that I can’t broadcast enough about,” said Bulszewicz. “I really want the students to go and be the adventurers that come back and explain how life-changing it was.”
allisolj17@bonaventure.edu
