Come Fly with Me
By: Natasha Murray
Salem State University’s new Study Abroad Coordinator for the Center for International Education, Lauren Prema was gracious enough to allow herself to be interviewed by Red Skies. During this interview, Lauren Prema and I discussed her new job position and different aspects about the studying abroad program.
You are new to Salem State, what do you think of Salem State University and the city of Salem?
LP: Oh, I mean I love it! I like the population of students, I find all the students to be very hard working for the most part and extremely independent. I really like it!
What do you think about your new job/position as the Study Abroad Coordinator?
LP: It’s really exciting! This is the first full-time position for Study Abroad here before it was a graduate assistantship, so it’s nice to see that the university is really investing in opening to internationalize the campus.
What is your main objective for this position? How many trips would you like to do?
LP: So, my main objective is to make study abroad as accessible as possible for as many students as possible and especially getting the word out there about affordable options and scholarships. I would love to go on all the trips! I’m in this field of work because I studied abroad three times as an undergrad, so I did two full semesters and a short summer abroad. I just had such a wonderful experience and I want as many as students as possible to have the same experience. I also went to a state school as well, so I kind of get the system.
What do you think are your biggest hurdles at Salem State?
LP: I think it’s always going to be funding in the department and funding for students, but that’s kind of the issue across the board for most offices, just not as Salem State but in the field in general. Being understaffed can be an issue as well too.
What advice would you give to students about budgeting in terms of studying abroad? Are there any types of payment plans available?
LP: That’s a great question! So, I encourage all students to come meet with me to see what kind of options are out there because I think that students would be really surprised that are some options that are actually less expensive to study abroad than to study on campus. Just work hard at your job, save up money, and come talk to me. Students can use their financial aid to study abroad and there are additional scholarships that students can apply for to study abroad. There are constantly opportunities popping up and I want as many as students as possible to know about them.
How do you think people who have never been on a vacation before would benefit from studying abroad?
LP: Well, with study abroad we try not to clump it in the category of a vacation. I think traditionally it was thought of as a fun trip or a nice semester away, but increasingly study abroad is becoming more of a rigorous academic sort of experience. I think students who have never been out of the country or spent a significant period of time away from their families, it can be an overwhelming experience to do a full semester that’s why I always encourage a lot of these students to start out with a faculty-led program. They are still getting to explore another country or city, but with the guidance of a faculty from Salem State as well as a cohort of other Salem State students.
If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would she go?
LP: The next place I am trying to go to is Colombia.
Do you have trouble with students who fear studying abroad? Could the negative stigma from the media or films like Taken be the cause of this?
LP: That’s a great question! A lot of times, I see with students is that the fear is embedded with what their parents think. In a lot of these cases, I encourage students to have their parents reach out to me and talk them through it. I think they would be surprised to learn how the study abroad programming has such an intensive risk management support. Unfortunately, in today’s climate there’s no such as a thing as a 100% safe city, I mean even our own city of Boston; you can’t just always fear everything.
How do we ensure student safety abroad?
LP: First, I’ll speak of the faculty-led programming. We have a pretty good risk management protocol that we’ve put in place. It was actually one of the first things I did when I came to Salem was put together a risk protocol. Every single one of our students whether its faculty-led or a full-semester abroad, all of our students are covered by international health coverage, emergency evacuation, and trip coverage (for example: If you lose your passport, we are able to help you). We also have a fantastic team of risk management folks—Chief Labonte is the head of risk management and Susan Hacker works alongside with him. We are also constantly monitoring what’s going on around the world and any time there’s an incident, our partners where our students are studying will notify me, so we always have a sense of what’s going on.
For a list of Faculty Led Study Abroad trips go to Program Search to learn more.