Staff members at the Padnos International Center hope an old-fashioned spare change fundraiser will drive members of the campus community to support study abroad opportunities for students.
The Study Abroad Scholarship Fund Drive will run February 6-20. Students, faculty and staff members can make cash donations at the 20/20 Desk in Kirkhof Center, Padnos International Center (Lake Ontario Hall, room 130) and other offices around campus. Donations can also be made online at www.gvsu.edu/pic/give.
The fundraiser campaign centers on a "bus bank" that resembles the route 50 campus connector buses operated by the Rapid. Students who donate at campus locations will receive a bus bank.
Mark Schaub, chief international officer, said the image of a bus is familiar to students around the world.
"It’s more powerfully symbolic of how the Grand Valley community can pool its spare change towards the new Global Programs endowment," Schaub said, adding that the endowment will be dedicated to funding need-based scholarships for study abroad programs.
Last year, more than 800 students participated in a study abroad experience.
Maya Grant, a senior majoring in sociology, spent the fall semester in Bangalore, India, after earning the Photography Study Abroad and the Mark A. Murray scholarships. "I couldn't have done any of this if I didn't earn the scholarships," she said.
Grant grew up in the Traverse City area and said she had never been on an airplane until it was time to leave for India. During a layover in Germany, she found other international students on her flight who were traveling to Christ University in Bangalore.
She is now a study abroad advocate and tells her friends to take advantage of scholarship opportunities to study abroad. "Going to the international center was easy, they really simplify the process for you," Grant said.
The Study Abroad Scholarship Fund Drive is supported by the Office of Student Life.
Sign up and receive the latest Grand Valley headlines delivered to your email inbox each morning.
