To honor the 50th anniversary of Semester at Sea, the Institute for Shipboard Education created the Presidential Scholars program, available to 50 students over the next several voyages. The original group of nine Scholars sailed in Fall 2011, and SAS is happy to host eight more this semester.
ISE selects recipients for the Fall and Spring semesters based on student achievement at their home campus as well as their strategic plan for the semester. In exchange for a full scholarship from ISE, each student is required to carry out the academic plan they proposed in their original application. Examples of scholar projects for the current voyage include conducting interviews on international nutrition, leading seminars on Chinese culture, and shooting and editing a documentary film.
Brandon Hill of Eden Prairie, Minnesota is one of the eight Scholars on board this semester, and the international curriculum of SAS provides the perfect platform for his plan to research education differences worldwide. “I’ll be studying academic disparities and trends in several countries,” Hill said of his self-designed Presidential Scholars project. “I plan to conduct interviews with both students and professionals to discover some inequities in education in their country and how they’re working to solve them.” Hill should find plenty of interview opportunities, as the voyage already hosts students from 20 countries and plans to invite representatives on board from the University of Cape Town, University of Singapore, and Fudan University in Shanghai as the voyage continues.
Click here to learn more about this semester’s impressive Presidential Scholars.
