Study in America Program Releases Trip Destinations

Dylan Bradley

dab192@txstate.edu

10/6/2017

News Conference

SAN MARCOS, Texas— The Study in America program at Texas State University released their destinations for the 2018 trip. Students will visit historical national and state parks and landmarks including the Grand Canyon.

Full major students in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication (SJMC) that are interested in adventuring out and exploring creative writing styles will be applying for the opportunity. The trip includes mobile-style writing, where students are placed out of their comfort zone to write.

Photo Taken by Dylan Bradley

Program assistant for the Study in America program, Nicole Hengst, stated, “There is a high chance a student can get published after this trip.”

This program is overseen by the Office of Extension and Extended Learning but was started by Dale Blasingame, who had traveled to all 95 state parks in one year. Dale started the program in Fall 2016. Dale is also an SJMC Senior Lecturer for Texas State University.

With this program, students can receive six credit hours from the university if they are accepted to go on the trip. There is an application process that makes assurances that a student will have the right attitude going through the trip. They also must maintain an active social media presence on platforms such as Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and Snapchat. The applications will be due in Spring 2018 and 12 students are to be accepted. Since the university is counting this for course credit, students who may not be able to afford the $900 trip can be covered by financial aid.

For the 2017 program, nine students and three employees traveled in three vehicles to more locations within the proximity of Texas and nearby states. This upcoming year, the program is attempting to travel to some farther destinations. Their 2018 trip was disclosed with these locations:

·       Caprock Canyon State Park

·       Santa Fe

·       Grand Canyon National Park

·       Zion National Park

·       Mesa Verde National Park

·       Great Sand Dunes National Park

·       Palo Duro Canyon State Park

The classes that will be focused on will be Feature Writing and Mobile Storytelling in the Park taught by Kym Fox and Dale Blasingame respectively.  The trip is supposed to give a variety of camping, writing and team-building experiences. Different assignments will be given out depending on the classes you are signed up for to diversify the trip based on your interests. The detailed travel schedule will be released during Texas State Mass Communication Week Oct. 16-19 where there will be a panel discussing any further questions/concerns.