Huntsman Scholars: An Overview

            I figure I’d start my journal will a brief overview of the program I am in. I interviewed and got into Huntsman Scholars in the spring, which means I set apart my fall semester for an intense semester cumulating in a four-week trip to Europe. The scholars who get into scholar semester are top notch students, and thankfully, we all get off quite well. I honestly like spending time with every person in the program. Anyway, we are studying several different topics, from European Union institutions to international law, international marketing to economic systems. Our classes all blend together, so its hard to specify which topics we have covered because they have been so integrated. We met with the same group of 25 students every day for the last five weeks. It has been a great time so far.

            The purpose of the program is to provide an integrated educational experience to develop specific characteristics that will be beneficial for our personal lives and careers. We have learned to read through large reading assignments; we have learned to write through 30 plus papers we have had to write. We have learned communication skills through professional interaction with our professors, various presentations, and negotiation simulations. The unique set up of our program allows us to do really cool projects like replicating a meeting of the Council of Ministers in the EU. The work has been time-consuming and intense, but not necessarily difficult.

            All of our work on campus is supposed to prepare us for and compliment our time in Europe. We are visiting governmental organizations like the EU, NATO, and WTO as well as private businesses like Disney, Google, Microsoft, Monsanto, and Medopad. The goals are to expose us to European business culture to get us an international business mindset as well as to help us form an international network. We are also supposed to perform some informal primary research to utilize in our final projects that are due after we get home.

            All in all, I get to have a great educational experience with awesome people with a fantastic trip to Europe. I was really anxious and stressed coming into today, but right now as I am waiting to board the plane, I don’t feel any of that. I am just excited to go. I have to keep a journal about the trip, so I will continue to write every day. It may be boring because we have to do some analysis of our experiences and explain, but you can keep up with my travels at least!