Today@Sam Article

Bearkat Internships: Brady Baker And Noah Ewald

July 26, 2024
SHSU Media Contact: Mikah Boyd

College is a place where students can expand their horizons through higher education and interactions with their classmates. Some of those interactions can lead to international intrigue and leave students itching to learn more about their new friend’s home country. Sam Houston State University’s study abroad program allows these students to fulfill their globetrotting dreams and reach their educational goals simultaneously.

Two such students are Noah Ewald, a senior psychology major, and Brady Baker, a senior criminal justice major. Ewald and Baker are two of SHSU’s Bearkats Abroad Ambassadors, student representatives of the Study Abroad office who contribute to its social media page as well as organize and participate in promotional events.

Ewald connected with Jessie Miller, the assistant director of Study Abroad, who helped him find scholarships and submit the paperwork he needed to attend courses at Korea University during the spring semester. In the previous year, Ewald had befriended a South Korean exchange student who inspired him to study abroad in their home country.

“The Study Abroad office here was so great about guiding me through the process and helping me get what I need,” Ewald said.  “There was a time I was considering not going and Miss Miller stepped up and guided me through the whole process."

While studying across the world from your safety net can seem daunting, Ewald approached the challenge head-on. His coursework was rigorous but that didn’t dampen his spirits, thanks to the new friends he made in Korea University’s exchange program. He was even able to reunite with his friend from the previous year, this time in their hometown of Suwon.

On top of these visits, Ewald adventured across his host country with the new friends he made along the way. Together, they experienced karaoke, navigating a high-speed railway system and an overnight stay at a traditional bath house. He even got to do some sightseeing at Gyeongbokgung Palace, Wolmi Theme Park and hopped over to Japan to continue his exploration of East Asia.

For Ewald, his time in Korea did more than broaden his horizons, it deepened his understanding of the world around him. He emphasized the importance of this form of reflection and hopes to inspire his peers to venture out and look at things from a new point of view.

“You respect the world more and you respect your place in it because you know the world better, but you also understand how small you are and how small your upbringing is compared to the rest of it,” Ewald said. “You’re just one person in a sea of seven billion. I think it’s important for universities and even high schools to benefit from it because people need to see something other than the town they’ve lived in, even if it’s only for a week or two weeks.”

Baker is no stranger to how motivating a story of international studies can be. Her own journey across the pond was inspired by her sister, who had traveled abroad during college and regaled a young Baker with stories of her adventures.

“She got to travel, learn and meet a lot of people from around the world, which is something that I admire,” Baker said. “She got to see a lot of cultures, which is something I find really important, so I wanted to be able to experience that too.”

When her time came to start her own international education journey, Baker hunted for a university with the credits she needed for her degree and found her match at the University of Brighton in the United Kingdom.

Situated on the southern coast of the UK, Brighton served as a great home away from home for Baker during her first European excursion. Thanks to her flexible course schedule, Baker had enough free time to visit a total of 12 countries across Europe. She became a frequent flier in the U.K. as she visited Ireland, Spain, Portugal, Croatia, Sweden, Hungary, Austria, Slovakia and the Czech Republic.

Thanks to her time at the University of Brighton, Baker was able to live out her dream of making new international friends and learning more about other cultures. In the coming semester, she hopes to encourage others to study abroad by sharing her experiences alongside her fellow Bearkats Abroad Ambassadors.

“It was honestly life changing for me, I was already a very outgoing person and independent, but I took that to another level,” Baker said. “I’m living in college, away from my family, but being on the other side of the world is a completely different thing. It’s something that I think everybody should be able to experience, being on your own and adjusting to that really helps you with flexibility.”

Both ambassadors look forward to getting on campus in the fall and encouraging their fellow Bearkats to go out and see what adventures await them.

“I don’t look at the world the same,” Ewald said. “Maybe it’s because I’ve been to a lot of other places, but since I’ve been back from Korea and having lived there for a good amount of time, I got to experience a different walk of life, see other people and actually understand what kind of life they’re living.”

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