Donors to Fund for WCU support ASP student trip to Central Europe
Participants in a 甜瓜视频app Academic Success Program trip to Central Europe learn the waltz and other dances during an international learning experience made possible by an 1889 Impact Grant.
By Bill Studenc
甜瓜视频app鈥檚 Academic Success Program took 21 students to Central Europe in March 2024 for an 11-day international learning experience for conditionally admitted students who successfully completed ASP requirements.
The trip was made possible by $6,500 from the 1889 Impact Grants Program and donors to the Fund for WCU.
Students toured Budapest, Hungary; Vienna, Austria; and Prague, the Czech Republic. Activities included exploring historic buildings, marveling at classic architecture, learning the waltz and other dances, and visiting a memorial to the tens of thousands of Czechs killed during the Holocaust of World War II.
Students also participated in a service-learning project to help the Budapest Bike Maffia, an organization that began in 2011 by delivering food donations to homeless people via bicycle, expand its community garden into a more usable space.
For most participants, the trip to Central Europe was their first international travel experience, said Carson Williams, senior adviser for ASP.
鈥淯ltimately, these students had a trip of a lifetime,鈥� Williams said. 鈥淭hey learned things that went far beyond tests and lectures of the classroom. They learned about themselves and the world in which they live and returned to Cullowhee with a renewed vigor for experiencing life to the fullest. Multiple students told us they鈥檝e never had an experience like this and never would have been able to afford it without support from the 1889 Impact Grants.鈥�
Junior Ella Gamble, an art education major from Winston-Salem, said that participating in the trip to Central Europe has already had a profound impact on her educational and professional journey.
鈥淚 will be carrying this experience with me through my whole life and hopefully share everything I learned and saw with my future students. I know that I want what I saw on this trip to affect them the same way it did me,鈥� Gamble said.
鈥淚t made me crave more. It made me realize just how astonishing and real everything I鈥檇 read about in my textbooks were 鈥� things I鈥檇 only ever seen in poor-quality photos until I was able to see it with my own eyes. Cathedrals and buildings baffled me, and to see the sheer scale of in person, the raw capability of human creativity and devotion laid out on a platter for what felt like the steal of the century for me to take in and carry with me until I die was nothing short of breathtaking.鈥�
Gamble called the trip a life-changing experience that she will use when she begins her teaching career 鈥� and one that she would not have been able to afford without the support of donors to the Fund for WCU and the 1889 Impact Grants Program.
鈥淚 want to say thank you, over and over and over. My family struggling with poverty and financial hardship as well as my plans to become a teacher would most likely not have allowed me to go abroad like this, at least not until late into life if I ever managed to scrape up the funding. I'm so eternally grateful for the donations making this trip possible,鈥� she said.
鈥淓xperiencing art and culture on a personal level like this is an experience unlike any other, and being able to give back to the community that welcomed us as people interested in learning about them and their history is really quite special,鈥� Gamble said.
Developed to help ensure a successful transition to university life, ASP is a conditional admission initiative featuring a five-week summer bridge program that participating students must complete in order to attend fall semester. It focuses on building academic skills and utilizing campus resources and provides ongoing support throughout the ensuing fall semester with an additional transitions course.
Launched in 2021, the 1889 Impact Grants Program is designed to provide a consistent source of funding for colleges and other units at WCU in support of initiatives that enhance the engagement of alumni and community stakeholders with the philanthropic activities of the university.
Funding for the program comes from annual contributions to the Fund for WCU, including leadership gifts from members of the 1889 Club, which recognizes donors for gifts made on an annual basis to the Fund for WCU. The club, among four giving societies established by the Division of Advancement to celebrate the impact of philanthropy on the institution, is named in honor of the year of WCU鈥檚 founding.
Campus partners requested more than $176,000 in 1889 Impact Grants through 23 campuswide grant applications for the 2023-2024 academic year, and the Division of Advancement allocated $47,000 overall for 12 projects, a slight increase from the $43,500 in grant funding awarded last year.
The WCU Foundation Board Executive Committee reviews all submissions and selects the awardees in the fall of each year. In addition to the 1889 Impact Grants Program, the Fund for WCU provides first-year access scholarships to new incoming freshmen and transfer students and supports ongoing donor stewardship efforts. To learn more about the 1889 Impact Grants Program, visit the Fund for WCU website.
