Selah's Travel Abroad Experience
Selah Wangler is a Sophomore majoring in Biomedical Engineering. She participated in the Rising Sophomore Abroad Program (RSAP) in summer of 2022 and TEAM Malawi during winter break of 2023, supported by the SEC-Global Engineering Access Scholarship.
During her time in Italy and Germany with RSAP, she expressed how traveling with a group allowed her to make connections and not feel all alone when traveling abroad. Her favorite memory came from visiting Lake Como on a free day where she fondly remembers enjoying the crystal clear water with her classmates while eating gluten free ice cream.
.jpg "Selah and her classmates had the opportunity to climb all the way to the top of the Reichstag Dome and take in the view of Berlin.")
Having enjoyed her time with RSAP, she was motivated to apply for more scholarships and was able to travel with TEAM Malawi during winter break. During her time in Malawi, she took tours of seven different hospitals and worked on developing spacers for inhalers out of water bottles. In addition to learning about the healthcare system as well as how prosthetics were made, she was able to experience a safari driving tour. She reflects back on her experience and expresses how grateful she was to have received scholarships to make both travel abroad opportunities possible.
Selah’s advice to current engineering students is: “Travel abroad earlier rather than later. Even if it means having to take a class over summer.” Selah spoke of how traveling abroad has made her more adventurous and open to new things. She encourages other students to seek out these opportunities as traveling abroad aided her in gaining a different perspective of the world and a better understanding of people as well as engineering across the globe.
