I don’t want someone to tell me what the world is like. I want to go see it myself.
When Gavin Mumford, ’28, heard about the chance to visit China as part of a BSU course, he seized the opportunity to explore a new culture and country firsthand.
“I don’t want someone to tell me what the world is like,” said Gavin, a political science major with a concentration in international affairs. “I want to go see it myself.”
Gavin and eight of his peers spent spring break overseas through a study abroad travel course. The class, taught by Drs. Chien Yu and Jakari Griffith, covered global transportation, corporate culture and cross-cultural communication.
The group explored Beijing and Tianjin, traveled on a high-speed train, visited the Great Wall of China and the Forbidden City, and interacted with Chinese students.
“It allowed the students to see themselves as Americans from someone else’s perspective and to critique themselves,” said Griffith, who is BSU’s interim assistant provost for global engagement and senior international officer.
The trip built on a longstanding partnership between BSU and Beijing Jiaotong University. Students attended a 10-day youth forum at which they learned and socialized with their Chinese peers and shared music, dance, and other elements of each other’s cultures.
“They had the cultural experience and the academic experience,” said Yu, a professor of management. “They experienced so much they never had before.”
Students were impressed by the cleanliness of streets, widespread technology integration, and superior public transit.
“It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to travel to China,” said Simeon Lloyd-Wingard, G’26, a student in the higher education administration master’s program. “With rising tensions between the U.S. and China, I wanted to go and witness it myself.”
Biology major Josiah Severe, ’26, whose girlfriend is part Chinese, said the trip helped him grow closer to her parents and gave him a deeper appreciation for her cultural background.
“I wanted to learn about the culture firsthand,” he said. “Now I feel way more connected to them.”
Josiah and his classmates praised their professors and BSU’s Study Abroad Office for making such a meaningful trip possible.
“This is probably the furthest you can go from Bridgewater, and they did everything they could to get us out there,” Gavin said. “They’re giving us opportunities that not a lot of schools can.”
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