Studying abroad dramatically changed Laquisha Springer’s life.
That’s what the 21-year-old behavioral neuroscience major at Connecticut College said regarding the semester she spent earlier this year at the Danish Institute for Study Abroad in Copenhagen.
“I never felt so alive until I took risks, had engaging conversations with people [with whom] I seemingly had nothing in common, explored a new city, ate food I had no idea what it was, and took classes from professors who have had experience in their field,” Springer wrote of her experience in Denmark.
“I stepped and was gently nudged outside of my comfort zone,” Springer said. “I do not believe that there was a moment that I did not learn something new from studying abroad.”
Springer got her study abroad experience through a little-known partnership between the U.S. State Department and the Shawn Carter Scholarship Foundation, the charitable organization of the mega rap superstar and entrepreneur better known to the world as Jay Z.
More specifically, Springer was one of four students to receive one of the Shawn Carter Foundation-Gilman International Scholarships through the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.