International Passion

Published in: MyMarist575.com and Marist College's school newspaper, "The Circle"

The passion found in the Marist International Office (Study Abroad Office) never ends when it comes to influencing students to go abroad. The excitement Carol Toufali, coordinator of international programs, shows about students going abroad is undeniable, and she genuinely is someone who will give it her all to make it possible for anyone to go abroad and persuade them to diversify their four years in college.

More recently, it has taken a little more of an incentive for students to go abroad. Certain places are more popular for abroad travel like Florence, Italy and London, England, but the International Office tries to promote other places that haven’t been repeatedly traveled by Marist students, like South Africa and Hong Kong.

Just like how the international program asks all applicants to write an essay about adaptability, the office itself must conquer challenges to change to oblige to what the students want. Online applications were adapted so a student could apply while in their dorm room; over the summer months, a student could still apply.

Marist is known for the amount of students they send abroad. Out of all the college students in the United States, only 5 percent go abroad. There is a much higher population that goes abroad at Marist: recorded from the past four years, 45 percent of the student population went abroad during their four years at Marist. Both last fall and this fall, 158 students went abroad and last spring 180 students went abroad. Some even choose to go abroad more than once in their four years.

Every semester, the office looks to send about 150 students abroad. The office this semester is a few students below that number, but no matter the number they have committed for the semester, the office would still be willing to accept late applications. As long as it is still plausible, the international program will accept a student’s application.

The International Programs Coordinators Carol Toufali and Jerald Thornton, and Dean of International Programs John Peters, in no way want to be the reason why a student wouldn’t go abroad. Toufali described it as truly heartbreaking to see a student be rejected. To make sure that more people will apply and find the process quite effortless, Toufali described the hardest part of the application going to the Registrar and getting your transcript.

In each semester, the programs offered change depending on the students going and where they are interested in going. . A person's major can also determine where they go. A place like Greece and London would be great for a communication major and France is great for fashion.

Toufali said she gets chills if she hears a student speaking fluently of a new language from their abroad experience. Whatever a student’s interest is, the International Office will accommodate. That is exactly what the office tries to promote; if you want to go abroad, apply, and they will do more than their best to make it happen.

Students have been known to pick abroad programs based upon the amount of students attending or decide to go somewhere other students they know will attend. In a ploy to get students to be more diverse and be adventurous for new programs, the international program has given incentive for students to be challenged away from the most popular program in Florence, and attend a program in a destination like Budapest or Israel. Certain program incentives are newly featured with places like Tokyo, India, New Zealand and even certain cities in Italy to give students a cheaper price on the tuition, in which most students use for traveling money. Since a student’s financial aid is still intact, the incentive is around a $500 to $1,000 bonus on the trip. As well as cash, certain programs offer trips to other countries that will be given are part of the course. The group as a whole will go on some of the trips, which will be part of the whole price of the semester abroad.

“I chose the Rome program because it had a specialized program in international business and I didn’t want to go where every other Marist student was going," junior and next semester abroad student Yasin Binda said. "The incentive was an amazing bonus to the experience. We even get six overnight trips, as opposed to the three Florence gets.” Some students use the incentive as a factor into the program they want to attend, but others take it as just a plus.

Just "go away," like the posters say across campus. This opportunity doesn’t come along twice. You can only experience being a student abroad during your undergraduate years. You can always be a tourist. People are proud of their cultures, and they truly want to engage students with it.

"I personally wouldn’t have the opportunities that students have if I went abroad now. People engage students and want them to learn,” Toufali said.

There are so many promotions for students to go abroad everywhere in the world. The international program is created to favor the needs and wants of the students. The coordinators in the office take no excuses for people who say they can’t go abroad. They all want every student to take advantage of what is given to them within the four years they are in college.