Students Share Experiences Abroad during Regional Conference

Throughout the month of October, St. John Fisher College joined eight local colleges for ROCtober, a series of synchronous and asynchronous virtual engagement activities aimed at encouraging students to envision their global future.

More than 30 St. John Fisher College students participated in the conference, sharing their experiences abroad and learning about opportunities to travel abroad after graduation.

Dr. Stella Plutino-Calabrese, director of global education at Fisher joined Jenny Sullivan from the Rochester Institute of Technology, in a panel discussion, “Unpacking Your Experience: A Reflection of Your Time Abroad.” The session facilitated a dialogue about an intentional analysis and reflection of students’ study abroad experience.

“We teach students how to use reflection activities—how to share what their experience taught them, and how they are stronger people by reflecting on concepts including cultural understanding, political and historical perspectives, global understanding, and identity,” said Plutino-Calabrese, adding that students can also stress the soft and hard skills they acquired while abroad.

The conference also offered informational sessions on Fulbright scholarships, the Peace Corps, and other fellowship and scholarship opportunities to work and study abroad.

“We continue to ask students to create a narrative of the many attributes that they have learned abroad—communication, self-management, resiliency, bravery—and that will serve them well for their work and for their life,” Plutino-Calabrese said.