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UCC campus a haven for U.S. students UCC campus a haven for U.S. students

February 16, 2011

By Staff Reporter

In UCC’s Study Abroad Program, visiting students live, study and socialize with their native-born peers and sample the Irish way of life.
Louise Tobin, who heads the university’s international education office, travels regularly to the U.S. to recruit students.
“We have a very successful recruitment campaign in the U.S.,” she said recently. “We have a very close relationship with U.S. universities, some private liberal arts colleges, some large universities.”
Nicholas Harper-Smith from San Francisco learned about UCC through its recruitment campaign at Wheaton College, where he’s majoring in theater. There he met Tobin, who was impressed with his 3.9 GPA.
“I really wanted to go someplace that has a big history in theater,” said Harper-Smith, who’s been in touch with UCC’s drama society and hopes to get involved in backstage work. He has also started a part-time job in the Western Star, a nearby student bar.
“It’s pretty enjoyable, the people are awesome,” said Harper-Smith, who’s found it easy to fit in. “I love the environment. The whole independent lifestyle I enjoy.”
“Students come here for the intrinsic value of the academic experience and to satisfy their curiosity,” Tobin said. The international education office, which aims to make the students’ integration as painless as possible, assigns an advisor to each newcomer to offer advice and support and it also arranges accommodation.
Students are given the option to take classes over one semester or an entire academic year. As well as the spring and autumn semesters, students are also offered the “Early Start” semester program. This in an intensive course that gives an introduction to Ireland and Irish studies and the opportunity to gain credits before beginning regular classes. The students learn about Irish history, culture, civilization and environment through lectures and field trips.
“While Irish studies is very important, we also have diversified our offerings — in business and environmental sciences,” Tobin said. The Early Start semester is also an ideal opportunity for the visiting students to get to know the college and make some friends before the rest of the college comes back in October.
“It really helped to meet people,” said Kerry Begley, a 20-year-old visiting from Loyola College with her twin sister, Heather.
The Begley twins, who are from Rockland County in New York, are second-generation Irish Americans whose family comes from County Mayo. They’re both chemistry majors and are here for a year, having also done the Early Start semester.
Both of them went on a recent field trip to the Aran Islands. “It was really interesting, a totally different way of life”, said Heather Begley. And the twins are involved with the St. Vincent De Paul Society as an extracurricular activity. Heather Begley also works with mentally disabled children in the COPE Foundation. “As soon as my labs finish I’m going to start tutoring,” she said. In addition to all of that, she’s signed up to serve as minister of the Eucharist for the nearby Honan Chapel.
Often the U.S. students find the structure of the teaching is different to that found at home. For example, it’s largely up to the students themselves to do their course work. “There’s more of a focus on independent study — self-motivated learning,” Tobin said. The students have the month of April off to study for exams and Loyola College has arranged for the Begley twins and its other students at UCC to travel to Venice for a week during that month. The Begleys are also keen to see more of Ireland and plan to go to Dublin for St. Patrick’s Day. Both are Irish dancers and are often called upon to perform during social occasions.
None of the students seem overly excited about Ireland’s lower legal drinking age. Jennifer Sparling from Laurel, Miss., is a third year visiting from Rhode Island’s Browne College. She doesn’t drink alcohol. “It’s a little strange for people who’re not on their home turf — you have to keep your bearings about you,” said Sparling, who’s attending UCC for the spring semester, studying Anglo-Irish Literature, Early Celtic Lyric Class, Anglo-Irish Literature and other subjects. She has no Irish background and came to Ireland because she’d heard so much about it.
Professor David Cox, the dean of arts, is working in conjunction with Tobin and the IEO to produce a new Early Start program for September 2004. “It’ll be called ‘Ireland: A World of Music.’ It’ll focus on the various musical traditions in Ireland today,” he said.
Tobin welcomes visiting students with open arms. “They enrich campus life and they integrate well with the Irish students. Our academic staff cites that they add to the class environment,” he said.

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