Grace and her Guilford classmates met with the Dalai Lama on a study abroad trip to India.
In her four years at Guilford, Grace lived and studied in India, Mexico and Spain. Guilford encourages study abroad and experiential learning opportunities for all of its students.
Grace Christiansen ’24 wanted more from a college than large lecture halls and classmates identified by numbers rather than names. She wanted a college that let her explore her passions outside of the classroom. She wanted clubs, activities, scholarly programs and study abroad trips to feed her creativity and curiosity. She wanted Guilford College.
Grace, who teaches in Spain these days, made the most of her time at Guilford. She was an Assistant Community Director, a member of several student clubs including Ultimate Frisbee and ROAR, a club that advocates for animals and brings dogs from a nearby shelter on campus. She was also part of Guilford’s Principled Problem-Solving Scholars Program.
“If you can’t find a club or program that interests you, you’re probably not looking hard enough,” says Grace. “There’s something for everyone, and that’s what makes Guilford special to me. A lot of students want to make a difference, and we do that in our clubs together.”
Grace also took part in three study-abroad trips. She walked Spain’s Camino de Santiago and explored the experiences of Mexican children over 10 days in Oaxaca City, Mexico.
Her most memorable trip came her senior year when she and 14 classmates gained a greater understanding of the plight of Tibetan refugees by meeting with them in northern India and recording their stories. The trip culminated with a personal meeting in Dharamshala with the Dalai Lama, the foremost spiritual leader for Tibetan Buddhists. Grace says the trip was “life changing.”
Guilford encourages study abroad and experiential learning opportunities for all of its students. Recognizing the transformative power of global experiences, the College offers programs that enable students to enhance their academic pursuits while gaining valuable cultural and personal experiences.
“It’s impossible to come away from any (study) abroad trip and not be impacted,” says Grace. “But you can say the same thing about Guilford as a whole. It’s one thing to sit in a classroom and learn about refugees' experiences or any other topic but to go out and experience first hand, that’s something Guilford gives students that a lot of bigger schools can’t match.”
Want to learn more about the transformative power of experiential learning at Guilford? Contact Steve Mencarini.