Spring break: perhaps the most anticipated week of the spring semester. For many college students, this week of freedom means swimsuits, skiing, or time at home. But for a group of students from Texas A&M University’s Mays Business School, spring break meant an opportunity to continue their education—overseas. On March 16, a group of 19 freshman and sophomore Regents Scholars (first-generation college students at A&M on scholarship) boarded a plane and said goodbye to American soil and bonjour to Paris, France. For many, this was their first taste of international travel.
Nineteen freshman and sophomore Regents Scholars from Mays Business School spent their 2009 spring break in Paris.
Peter Drysdale, director of undergraduate programs at Mays, expressed the impact international experience can have on a college education. “With few exceptions, this trip was the catalyst for these Regents Scholars applying for their U.S. passports,” he said. “Now that they have their passports they are much more likely to travel outside the U.S.”
The students visited a variety of historical and cultural sites, including Notre Dame, the Eiffel Tower, the Hotel des Invalides, the Louvre, and the Musee d’Orsay. Smaller groups of students explored the catacombs, toured the Paris sewer system, and visited Pere Lachaise Cemetery. On a day trip to Versailles, the Aggie group took a bicycle tour around the grounds, hosted by Aggie-owned company Fat Tire Bicycles.
For Mays student Pritesh Desai ‘12, the trip was the perfect complement to his business education. Textbooks are one-dimensional; to become well-rounded individuals, it is important for students to see the world and its inhabitants, he says. “Universities prepare us for the real world, but to truly experience it is to venture outside the classroom doors. After going on this trip, I have experienced how diverse this world really is.”
The Office of the Dean of Undergraduate Programs and Associate Provost for Academic Services at A&M supported the Paris trip with a $19,000 grant to encourage first-year students to engage in study abroad. Several students plan to return to Europe as soon as this summer for study abroad programs.
See also
- Pritesh Desai’s MaysBlog: From Eiffel Tower to Rudder Tower
