Staff at the Global Engagement Office, located in COM 220, talk to students about opportunities for JCCC students to study abroad on Jan. 28. (Photo by Vaughn Wheat)

During these long winters and strange Kansas weather, it becomes easy to daydream of places far and near. Well, here’s some news for you, JCCC might very well be able to get there via its Study Away Program. 

“I’m working with the fashion program right now. Fashion students are going to New York City to a fashion event,” Janette Jasperson, the Study Away Coordinator, said. “We’re working with a program that is taking our fire students over spring break to a Kansas wildfire prevention camp so they can get credit. It’s part of their coursework. Study Away, can be as local as Kansas or as far away as anywhere in the world.”

The purpose of Study Away is to be able to continue your credited education with JCCC, but outside of Overland Park, giving students the chance to have extremely hands-on learning and immersive educational experiences. Of course, being able to travel somewhere fun or abroad is another perk. 

“So in Madrid, you study Spanish, or they do some business classes in English. Scotland, their summer program, they say it’s distinctly Scottish. Greece has just an amazing array of classes, they do more computer classes and stuff like that, but they have an amazing array,” Jasperson said, sampling some of the abroad options students have. “Florence, Italy is more art and culinary, and our fashion students go there too. And Japan is for serious students of Japanese language.”

Most options for study away programs become available in the fall, and usually registration for them ends at the end of September, though depending on when the trip is, its time window to sign-up might be different. To see a list of all trips once they become available, visit https://jccc.via-trm.com/ and log in with your student email. 

Study Away scholarship opportunities as well as other relevant information can be found at https://www.jccc.edu/student-resources/international-education/study-abroad/ 

Wish to become more involved and aware of the world around you but don’t or can’t travel abroad? Worry not, as JCCC also offers a Global Awareness Program (GAP) to help students gain insights and develop expanded understandings about this interconnected world. 

“This program has four components. The first one is academic courses, including one foreign language, and two non language, global focused courses,” Junxian Xie, GAP coordinator, said. “The second requires students to be a part of globally focused activities. Most of these activities are on campus. Then the third one is an optional component, students go to study abroad. The last one is a GAP student reflection component, with the Capstone Reflection Essay.”

If a student completes at least the three GAP required programs, then that student can graduate from JCCC with GAP recognition on their transcripts, and members of the GAP program have special access to exclusive scholarships. For more info on GAP, visit https://www.jccc.edu/student-resources/international-education/global-awareness/.