![\"v31n01-International-PQ-Street\"](\"https:\/\/www.bemidjistate.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2015\/05\/v31n01-International-PQ-Street.png\")
<\/a>Street, who will be making his first trip outside North America in May when he departs for Weifang, China, will spend three months working as a teacher for Vancouver-based CIBT Education Group. Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ and CIBT are close partners on a variety of initiatives in China, which in addition to this teaching program include faculty and student exchange programs.<\/span><\/p>\n“I have never traveled like this, and Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ is giving me the opportunity to go and do it,” he said. “It will be a really good experience, and I know I’ll be taken care of while I’m there.”<\/span><\/p>\nStreet will be teaching English to students of all ages, between second grade and high school. Based on conversations with CIBT, he thinks he may have an opportunity to teach college-age students as well.<\/span><\/p>\nWeeks before his departure, he was busy planning for a future that could include teaching in Japan next summer.<\/span><\/p>\n“I’m already thinking about next time,” Street said. “I’m trying to figure out where my life will lead, and I’m hoping that after this experience I will have some of my questions answered.”<\/span><\/p>\nEuroSpring in Oxford
\n<\/b><\/span>Lisa Kittelson, a junior majoring in marketing communications with a minor in business administration, knew immediately after arriving on campus that she wanted to take advantage of EuroSpring.<\/span><\/p>\nIt is Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ’s oldest and best-known international study opportunity. Students pay regular tuition and fees, earning six credits during a five-week stay at the University of Oxford in England. EuroSpring groups tour such historical sites as Stonehenge, Bath and Stratford-upon-Avon, and after the five-week session concludes, students often tour Europe on their own.<\/span><\/p>\nKittleson said she first learned of EuroSpring on a Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ campus tour.<\/span><\/p>\n“I had always wanted to go to England, and what attracted me to EuroSpring was the opportunity to travel and try something new on a shorter timeframe,” she said. “I wasn’t ready to try something that would have me away for a whole semester or an entire year.”<\/span><\/p>\nA third-generation Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ student from Young America whose grandparents, father and an uncle are all alumni, Kittleson participated in EuroSpring in 2014. She says the experience changed her and made her approach her education at Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ with a new mindset.<\/span><\/p>\n“I feel more empowered,” she said. “In my everyday schooling, I can relate what I’m learning back to something I learned in Europe. My way of thinking has changed because of my experience — and I think that’s just priceless. It doesn’t always happen for students to have opportunities like that.”<\/span><\/p>\nShe wants other Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ students to be aware of the myriad travel opportunities the university has available and to realize the programs are accessible to students with a variety of interests. Those programs, she says, will deliver an experience that can’t be valued in dollars and cents.<\/span><\/p>\n“I hear students say, ‘I wish I could do that.’ Well, you can,” Kittleson said. “An experience like this doesn’t have a price tag.“<\/span><\/p>\nNorthStar Visiting Scholars
\n<\/b><\/span>In addition to its increasing the ways its own students and faculty can study and work abroad, Bemidji State also is emphasizing opportunities for international students and faculty to study and work in Bemidji.<\/span><\/p>\nThis semester, more than 80 international students representing nearly two-dozen countries are studying at Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ, and the university is hosting scholars in its new NorthStar Visiting Scholar Academy. In addition, a new English Language Center teaches valuable language proficiency skills to students seeking admission to Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ.<\/span><\/p>\nSeven scholars from China have visited Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ this year through the NorthStar Academy. While on campus, these scholars have attended seminars, workshops and classes focused on cross-cultural and academic exchange. <\/span><\/p>\nThe academy also helps them better understand the U.S. education system, American culture and other aspects of life in this country. The scholars can take selected Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ classes of their choice on a non-credit basis.<\/span><\/p>\nIn the English Language Center, Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ has worked with four international students this past year — two from China and one each from Nepal and Thailand — who needed to develop their language skills. The center provides intensive training to students who do not speak English as their first language. Opened last fall in Bridgeman Hall, the center operates as a branch of Winona State University’s English Language Center.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"B<\/span>emidji State University is steadily fulfilling its vision of expanded partnerships with international institutions of higher education and increasing opportunities both for its students to study internationally and for Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ to host international students.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21050,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[958],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21035","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-magazine"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bemidjistate.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21035","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bemidjistate.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bemidjistate.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bemidjistate.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bemidjistate.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21035"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.bemidjistate.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21035\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21051,"href":"https:\/\/www.bemidjistate.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21035\/revisions\/21051"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bemidjistate.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21050"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bemidjistate.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21035"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bemidjistate.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21035"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bemidjistate.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21035"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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