Summer Studying? A Review on St. Lawrence’s Off-Campus Summer Term Courses
This past summer, many students ventured overseas with St. Lawrence’s Off-Campus Summer Term course offerings to locations including the EU, India and Sri Lanka, London and Ireland. These programs serve as alternatives to traditional study abroad semesters at SLU, wherein travel time is condensed significantly into a brief two-to-three-week period. Throughout this time, individuals have the privilege of becoming immersed in an international culture and getting to explore the respective region while still working to obtain academic credit.
For most students, the purpose of a summer course is to learn about how their area of study applies in a foreign environment. For political science and psychology double-major Carson Hanna ’27, traveling to France, Luxembourg and Germany helped to broaden his understanding of international government operations. “It was really eye-opening to see the difference between European politics and American politics, particularly in terms of international negotiations,” said Hanna. “Getting to immerse myself in European culture, even for a short amount of time, is an experience I will carry with me in future endeavors and make me think about international politics in a whole new way.”
Conservation biology major Charlotte Blake ’27 also spoke positively about how her time in Southeast Asia enhanced her academic experience at St. Lawrence. “Hong Kong and Sri Lanka both have a ton of biodiversity, and we were able to see tropical plants and animals that typically you only read about in textbooks,” said Blake. “It was really cool to be able to see these in real life, it made learning about the tropics a lot easier and [more] memorable!”
In other cases, students enroll in summer abroad courses simply to travel to desired locations. This was the case for statistics major Beth Polcaro ’27, who embarked on this year’s Ireland trip. “One of my favorite tours was at Croke Park stadium,” said Polcaro. “I got to see a behind-the-scenes look at the stadium and [witness a] sport culture that is defining of the Irish people.” In addition to being pleasurable, Polcaro was able to absorb international culture, connect with her classmates, and practice being in a foreign environment for her Kenya semester this coming spring.
SLU’s summer courses are also highly convenient for those who are unable to commit to an entire semester of off-campus study, either because of academic or extracurricular commitments. This is an especially common dilemma for student athletes like psychology major Nick Lyndaker ’25, who runs on the Men’s Cross Country and Track and Field Teams. In order to maximize competition time, Lyndaker chose not to study abroad during the school year. Thus, the ability to go to London for a short three weeks this past summer was a great compromise.
“One of my favorite moments from London was the first weekend… I spent the morning getting my long run in through all the big landmarks and beautiful parks the city offers,” said Lyndaker. “I highly recommend anyone who is in the same situation to look at a summer program in the future.”