WATCH: UC Student s Spectacular Photos Detail Honors Study Abroad Trip

A video slide show provides a dramatic tour of what 18 University of Cincinnati students in the University Honors Program did over their December break. UC honors student Evan Sale, a second year architecture major in the UC College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning (DAAP), provided these photos after students traveled to the United Kingdom and France to discover the ideology, culture and politics of World War II.

The honors seminar

was led by Jeffrey Zalar, an assistant professor of history.

“I am fascinated by history because I think we face many of the same obstacles and dilemmas that people in the past did, and that understanding their stories can help us live better today,” says Sale, who is from Chatham, Ill. “I was especially interested in World War II because it had such an effect on world politics for decades afterward, from making the United States a superpower to speeding up the dismantling of the British empire. I wanted to learn more about these kinds of ramifications, because I most of what I knew about World War II was the timeline of the fighting.”

The group returned home on Dec. 20, just in time for the holidays.

The

University Honors Program

  for academically talented students encompasses the top 7 percent of UC undergraduate students from across colleges and disciplines. University Honors focuses on unique and challenging academic and hands-on experiences that reflect the themes of community engagement, global study, leadership, research and the creative arts.

In honors seminars, faculty challenge students with creative projects and experiences that take learning beyond the typical classroom.

“I know the UC Honors global experiences have enhanced my learning, because seeing the places and people influenced by historical events pulls those events out of books and makes them real,” says Sale. “Finding my bearings in new places and experiencing new cultures also makes me examine the norms of my own culture that I would usually ignore. I also feel that we appreciate more of the beauty of places and customs when they are unfamiliar, because we gloss over what we experience every day.”

The University Honors Program aims to increase the percentage of its students in study abroad experiences to 75 percent. University Honors is represented by students from every undergraduate college on campus.

The UC2019 Academic Master Plan aims to increase the number of UC’s students studying abroad as part of its goals to prepare students for the global marketplace, as well as boost the number of faculty leading these study abroad experiences.

UC International distributed approximately $48,000 in grants to support student expenses on study abroad experiences in December.

University Honors Program

UC International