Students from two Burlington educational institutions met up on Thursday and Friday, 22-23 April. Not in Burlington, but in Dublin, Ireland. Sixteen students and two teachers from Champlain Valley Union High School were hosted by Champlain College students studying abroad at Champlain’s Dublin campus.
The CVU students are taking a course on International Business that includes 11 days in Ireland, where they have been exposed to the rich history and culture of Ireland, as well as the stunning landscapes of the Emerald Isle. A goal of the course was to expose the students to a Vermont-based organization that has expanded abroad. Course instructor Tamie-Jo Dickinson said that ’Champlain College fit that criteria nicely, and their willingness to collaborate with CVU helped ensure the students had impactful cultural and business exposure on the trip’.
The Champlain College students are nearing the end of their 4 month study abroad semester in the Irish capital, and were excited to host the CVU students. Champlain College arranged for several educational walking tours, a chance to sit in on a Champlain College Dublin class, lectures on International Business from speakers from IDA Ireland and the US Embassy, as well as a visit to the European Headquarters of Workday, a US company who provide cloud-based software solutions for human resource and financial management.
Dr. Stephen Robinson, Director of Champlain College Dublin, said that ‘it was a great pleasure to show off the wonderful city of Dublin to the CVU students and teachers. It’s also great to see the Champlain students acting as tour guides for the CVU students. The Champlain students have been in Dublin for almost 4 months and you can tell that it’s become a second home for them and their enthusiasm is really infectious’.
Shannon Ryan, one of Champlain’s students in Dublin, is a 2012 graduate of CVU and first visited Ireland in 2011 with a CVU school trip. ‘The opportunity to travel internationally and to experience school / business in another country while in high school is incredibly beneficial when choosing what college and post-grad paths to take. For me the CVU trip in 2011 really opened my eyes to the idea of studying abroad, and studying in Ireland in particular. Champlain then afforded me the opportunity to come back to Ireland and study at their Dublin campus. My experience at the Champlain Dublin campus has been absolutely fantastic’ said Ryan.
Christopher Mallow, a CVU senior, thought that ‘experiencing international business lectures from IDA Ireland and the US Embassy was fantastic. “Hearing from people that are actively involved in US-Ireland economic links really hit home to me. I had no idea Dublin was such a world centre for international businesses. The visit to Workday’s European was really interesting as well’.
APPLY NOW TO STUDY ABROAD! READY TO GET THAT INTERNATIONAL EXPERIENCE AND GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE?
VISIT WWW.CHAMPLAIN.EDU/CHAMPLAINABROAD
