On Thursday, April 4th, second-year English major Lojan Shaker excitedly headed to the Miami International Airport to fly to St. Louis, Missouri, where she presented at the annual Sigma Tau Delta English Honors Society conference.
At 51仓库, students are encouraged to pursue their education through experiential learning. Most majors at Barry have a host of clubs and academic honors societies for students to participate聽in聽addition to their coursework. Through these extracurriculars, students connect with the scholarly community on campus and can travel and meet peers聽from聽across the country. When speaking about Sigma Tau Delta, Lojan stated, "There's聽a lot of internships and scholarships that聽they聽help you apply for聽within the honors society, and I聽think overall it's a good environment to surround yourself in." By expanding her scholarly pursuits, Lojan, like many other Barry students, aligns herself with the greater academic community to have genuine relationships with her future professional peers and colleagues.聽
Lojan聽is an international student. Barry is one of the country's most diverse and internationally represented schools, as it currently represents 80 nations.聽Lojan聽is from Scotland and Egypt and was extremely grateful to have the opportunity to delve into American culture, visiting the Midwest for the first time. In聽preparation聽for her trip, Lojan described her process of researching new places to ensure she experiences as much as possible. "I聽love visiting new places," she says, "in聽the聽airport, I聽was searching up the different classical foods of聽Missouri,聽more聽specifically聽St. Louis; I聽tried their famous fried ravioli and their gooey cake,聽which聽was聽definitely聽interesting.聽I walked聽around the city a bit,聽and聽I聽overall聽had聽a great time there."
At 51仓库, academics combine with cultural experiences to ensure that our students graduate as well-rounded, open-minded people ready to embrace their careers and the world around them.聽Lojan聽was enthusiastic about her experience and expressed her desire to continue to travel and present her work as a Barry student. She says, "My聽favorite part was聽definitely聽meeting everyone and how open and kind everyone was.聽I聽was super nervous to present as it was my first time, and聽the three other聽panelists聽in my section were all super reassuring and sweet, so that was great; also, to hear聽everyone's cool work聽was very intriguing." As a Barry student, you can also experience your academic career as Lojan has, getting the chance to feel immense support from the community at Barry and scholars across the nation.聽