Laurie Stahle’s Story

Laurie Stahle

The Travel Abroad Grant I received my sophomore year at UCA had a much larger impact on the course of my life since then I could have ever imagined at the time. In 2003 the Honors College awarded me $6000 to attend a semester-long Mandarin language program in Beijing, China. I arrived in the dead of winter and the middle of the Chinese New Year. On the airplane’s nighttime descent I watched fireworks exploding as far as the eye could see and, although I did not yet know how to say “hello” in Chinese, before we touched down I was plotting ways to stay beyond a single semester.

Up to that point the Chinese language program I attended was the most challenging academic endeavor I had yet undertaken. It was also the most gratifying. I felt the topography of my brain change as new pathways forced themselves through soft tissue. China was such an utterly different place that I walked around in a constant state of awe-struck amazement and enthusiastically took in every sight and sound.

Laurie Stahle
Class of 2005

Did You Know?

The Schedler Honors College Campaign is raising funds to grow the endowment for TAG, URGE and ELF. This will ensure that Honors students have ongoing opportunities for global study, undergraduate research and creativity.