The new student organization Gilman Association for Students Abroad (GAMA) was cofounded by junior biomedical sciences student, Jamie Davila and junior biological sciences student, Dominique Fierro. They started this organization with the goal of ensuring that University of Texas El Paso (UTEP) students are aware of the opportunities and resources for them to go study abroad.
The organization started after its president, Davila, became a Gilman Scholarship recipient, and with the objective to give back to the UTEP community, decided to start GAMA. Both Davila and Fierro have been part of study abroad programs and had the same worries many students have before embarking on such a journey.
“I would describe GAMA as a way to not be scared of studying abroad.” Fierro said. “I think that studying abroad oftentimes comes with a little bit of a negative connotation of like, ‘How am I going to finance a trip?’ ‘How am I going to finance travel expenses on top of school and on top of other things that we might have going on as college students?’ GAMA brings students the opportunities firsthand to make sure that they’re well equipped when studying abroad, and just to make the whole experience less stressful and make them feel more at ease when they take this part of their academic journey.”
UTEP offers many resources for students to achieve their academic goals, but sometimes students don’t know about these services. Fierro emphasized how GAMA aims to change that.
“Our goals involve getting as many students aware of the resources at UTEP that they can use to go abroad. We would ideally like to see numbers increase for Gilman recipients, and we would just like to see overall students engage more with the study abroad office, because sometimes they don’t really go to ask for resources. So, we want to see just a general increase in successful study abroad stories.” Fierro said.
According to Davila, being abroad is filled with challenges, from getting sickto meeting new people; but it is possible to take advantage of those weak moments and turn them into life-changing lessons.
“Being abroad in Corona I got like, super sick, and I had to go to the emergency room, and that opened opportunities to go shadow doctors over there. It opened my mind to how different things are all over the world,” Davila said. “Being able to see how the healthcare system worked in Spain compared to the U.S., was like a day-night situation and it helped me, like coming back, wanting to implement some of those dynamics that they have for my future plans of being a dentist when I have my clinic.”
The benefits of studying abroad aren’t limited to just the days, weeks or months one is out of the country. The skills and global perspective one can learn are lessons that students continue to carry throughout their career.
“Every single country is a different thing, even each city within a country is completely different from one another, so being able to adapt, that’s the biggest thing with cultural awareness,” Davila said. “It’s like adapt your adaptability to different scenarios, and bringing back that characteristic to El Paso makes you a more well-rounded student, and a well-rounded applicant for jobs or for scholarships.” Davila said.
Fierro remembers her time abroad as equally fun and transformative and encourages other students to consider taking that step.
“I came back feeling like I could conquer anything, and I hope the other students can share that experience as well.” Fierro said.
GAMA will be hosting a tabling event on March 11 and another general meeting on March 25. They encourage students of any level to attend so that they can learn more about services, scholarships and study abroad programs, as well as to meet other people who are like them, filled with wanderlust and want to discover the world.
Vivien Noe C, is a staff reporter at The Prospector and can be reached at [email protected]