Study-in-America is Back

Nicole Hengst
By: Tyler Fontaine

Tyler Fontaine

10/5/17

t_f80@txstate.edu



SAN MARCOS, Texas – Study-in-America at Texas State University is back for its second year to provide a program that allows students to travel to state and national parks while getting class credits. This year the program is expanding its trip from Texas and New Mexico to Utah and Arizona.



The trip will start at Caprock Canyon State Park, head to Sante Fe, New Mexico, then to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon, to the Zion National Park in Utah, Mesa Verde National Park in Colorado, the Great Sand Dunes in Colorado, then finishing up at Palo Duro Canyon in Texas.



While the trip does involve traveling to different state and national parks, the other half of the trip is earning class credits, as program assistant Nicole Hengst said in her press conference held this Thursday.



Six hours of mass communication credits are earned from this trip in the courses Feature Writing and Mobile Storytelling in the Park taught by Kym Fox and Dale Blasingame respectively.



Students will use different media platforms like Snapchat, Instagram and Facebook to tell stories within the different parks the students visit. All of this will be done while students are in the parks and camping on-site.



“We’re wanting to help students with internships, jobs, and helping fill out portfolios,” said Hengst.



With this year’s program, there will be an interview process for students interested in being a part of the trip. The program is looking for full-time mass communication majors that have an online presence already.



Study-in-America is looking to find 12 students for this year’s trip, but this number is adjustable.



Hengst said that the program not only helped students earn credits, but also helped participants in last year’s trip challenge themselves in a number of ways.



“I was very surprised about how much students were willing to push their boundaries,” said Hengst.



If you are interested in the program and would like to learn more information, there will be a panel held at Texas State’s Mass Communication Week Oct. 16-19 where students can ask questions and get more official announcements about the program.