Talk about your “Wheel of Fortune”!
Seven Eastern Kentucky University students are headed to exotic locales all across the world next summer for study-abroad experiences.
And it’s all on the University’s dime, thanks to the recent spin of a wheel.
The winners, year, major, hometowns and (in some cases, tentative) international destinations are:
· Iris Johnson, undecided freshman from Indianapolis, Thailand.
· Taylor May, freshman pre-nursing major from Frankfort, Belize.
· Moriah Steenken, junior elementary education major from Fort Mitchell, Peru.
· Sarah “Paige” Dawson, sophomore pre-American Sign Language major from Lexington, London, Great Britain.
· Taylor Andrews, sophomore criminal justice major from Lexington, London, Great Britain.
· Shelli Hurt, junior pre-occupational science major from Manchester, Thailand.
· Shastina Bryant, sophomore chemistry major from Springfield, Illinois, Spain.
More than 500 entrants entered for the chance to be called to the O’Donnell Hall stage to spin a wheel that determined the study-abroad provider. They then had to choose between two or three possible destinations.
The annual contest was open to all EKU students, including regional campus and online students. If an entrant whose name was called was not present, the EKU Colonel stepped in as a proxy spinner.
“All EKU students should study abroad,” said Education Abroad Administrator Jennifer White. “This is such a wonderful, life-changing opportunity, and it adds to much depth and perspective to an education. There’s a world out there that can’t be experienced by sitting in a classroom. We’re creating global citizens with experiences and knowledge from their education abroad programs that they’ll benefit from for the rest of their lives.”
Other possible destinations for the winning students were Ireland, Ecuador, Argentina, Mexico, Czech Republic, France, Austria and Denmark.