Colorado State University is launching seven new first-year study abroad locations for upcoming semesters. This will offer new students the opportunity to explore new cultures and experience the world in a small-group learning environment.

There are a total of 12 first-year study abroad options.

For fall 2024, there will be first-year seminar abroad programs going to Spain, Ireland, Japan and Denmark, which are open to all majors. There will also be a business seminar in Croatia, a biology program in Australia, a program in Italy for design and merchandising students, a program in Denmark that has a chemical and biological engineering focus, a program in Germany for mechanical engineers and a seminar in London for civil and environmental engineering.

“It’s a really cool opportunity for our students to learn about themselves and the world around them in a cultured way before they start at CSU and for them to build a really strong community.” –Nicole Pawloski, Education Abroad program manager

Nicole Pawloski is a program manager on the Education Abroad team and oversees all of the first-year abroad programs at CSU.

“The Office of International Programs launched our first-year seminar abroad programs in the fall of 2022 after years of planning and preparation by our Education Abroad team,” Pawloski said.

These programs will provide three academic credits to each student in attendance. They will fulfill any student’s All University Core Curriculum 1C requirement.

Students will get to travel abroad for 10-14 days prior to the start of CSU’s fall semester.

“It’s a really cool opportunity for our students to learn about themselves and the world around them in a cultured way before they start at CSU and for them to build a really strong community,” Pawloski said.

Depending on the year, the locations will shift based on what can be offered and where the most beneficial opportunities lie.

“Students will experience guest lectures, industry visits, cultural experiences and excursions related to academics throughout the country,” Pawloski said. “Each First-Year Seminar Abroad program integrates several learning outcomes for students, including confidence building, growing a CSU and global support network, increasing their ability to interact with diverse people and ideas and more.”  

The goal is to send confident students into the CSU environment.

Orientation Programs Assistant Director Charlotte Salinas works heavily with Education Abroad and the first-year semester work they do on campus. 

“I started working with (Pawloski) in late March of 2022 as an assistant to some of these abroad programs because they were needing a little more support,” Salinas said. “So I started in March, but my first trip was in August to Ecuador in 2022.”

Salinas has been a part of both the 2022 and 2023 seminars in Ecuador.

“We spent time in the capital city, which is Quito,” Salinas said. “We went to a couple of museums (and) listened to lectures around ecology, language lectures, some Spanish lectures to teach us all a little bit of Spanish (and) events around environmental justice that (are) really huge in Ecuador.” 

Salinas said she was excited to see the students on the trips trying new things.

“You really see a growth in students and watch (a) community be built quickly,” Salinas said. “I know from my two trips to Ecuador (that) there are students (who) are still connected to members of that trip to this day.”    

Nicole Vieira, an Honors Program instructor, attended a social and environmental justice program in August 2023 in Ecuador.

“This was a First-Year Abroad Program, where we visited Quito and the nearby cloud forest,” Vieira said. “As an ecologist with a passion for environmental ethics and indigenous movements in conservation, this location was a dream come true.”

This was Vieira’s first time ever co-leading an abroad program.

“I have been abroad many times, but this was my first time leading others on such an experience,” Vieira said. “It was a welcome challenge. For me, the joy was in the opportunity for in-situ teaching, not just in the classroom.”

The CSU Office of International Programs training and CSU’s study abroad partner, the School for International Training, had Vieira well trained and prepared in the event of any emergency with plenty of backup plans. 

“We experienced those backup plans when a political assassination required us to return to the cloud forest,” Vieira said. “We stayed at an ecological research station at the top of a mountain, surrounded by clouds. We got a glimpse into why Ecuador has some of the most progressive nature-saving laws on the planet.”

These programs are designed to build community between CSU faculty, staff and new students. 

“When my student travelers returned to campus, they seemed more like spring-semester freshmen, not newbies,” Vieira said. “It would be great if all incoming freshmen could experience that in-between space where they can get excited about their adult life before ever stepping foot into a college classroom.”

Reach Gwendolynn Riddoch at life@collegian.com or on Twitter @CSUCollegian.