Students participating in the Vienna study abroad fall semester are packing their bags and flying to Europe this week. Students will be gone ninety days and have the opportunity to learn about the world and grow in their faith and education.
Eli McCoy, Oklahoma Christian international programs specialist, spoke about the two faculty sponsors accompanying the students for the semester.
“Dr. Ryan Newell and his wife are faculty sponsors, so there’s going to be a fun psychology class that he’s teaching” he said, “The Lipscomb sponsor that’s going, it probably doesn’t get better than this, is Dr. John Mark Hicks. He is a retired professor in New Testament, he’s kind of one of those giants in New Testament theology,” he said. “The students have no idea how much of a blessing they’re about to experience.”
Christian Ross, a sophomore majoring in accounting, is participating in the fall semester in Vienna. Ross spoke about his expectations and excitement leading up to his trip.
“I am really excited for the classes. There is a well renowned bible professor from Lipscomb, and that is what I’m really excited about. I’m also excited to see Europe, the culture, and getting to travel,” he said. “I’ve always really wanted to do some international living… I’ve always been fascinated with history, especially 1900s history, and so I’m really wanting to gain the experience of physically being in those places,” he said.
Addison Hutchison, a sophomore majoring in exercise science, will also be going to Vienna this semester. Hutchison spoke about her experience leading up to her trip.
“I came to OC knowing I wanted to study abroad,” she said. “I really do want to just grow as like a person and in my faith through it and see all the architecture and stuff,” said Hutchison. “I am worried because I am a picky eater… I am willing to try new foods, but I also might resort to PB&Js,” she said.
As students prepare for the upcoming semester, the study abroad program is looking back on their celebration this past summer, which was the 40th anniversary of the Oklahoma Christian study abroad program in Vienna.
John Osborne, Oklahoma Christian director of international programs and professor of communication, spoke about the 40th anniversary trip this past summer.
“Primarily, it was OC alumni who had studied abroad in Vienna, but not exclusively because they brought their spouses and their kids. We had alumni who never had the opportunity to study in Vienna, but wanted to,” he said. “We had a week-long program, in the mornings we would gather for worship and devotional. We also had tours led by OC faculty… We did a day trip, people chose between Salzburg, Budapest, or Bratislava, so everybody did that on Tuesday,” he said. “The Vienna program has been a really important program for the university for over 40 years, so we really wanted to commemorate that. We wanted to think about the good that’s happened the last 40 years, but then we also wanted to talk about how we make this an opportunity available to more students,” he said.
The study abroad programs are accepting applications to the winter study and spring semester to Vienna, along with the summer Asian, European, and African studies. There are ten two-thousand dollar scholarships available for Oklahoma Christian students who participate in the spring semester.
Be First to Comment