Anayston Casey will tell you she cannot believe she almost talked herself out of studying abroad. The senior Kinesiology student spent the spring semester of 2017 in Christchurch, New Zealand studying at the University of Canterbury. Casey says, “After reflecting on my time in New Zealand, I am absolutely amazed at the fact that those five months were the most rewarding of my collegiate career.”
While in New Zealand, Anayston was enrolled in 16 credit hours in courses such as Sport Nutrition, Athlete-Centered Coaching, A Backpacker’s Guide to World Cinema, and Strengthening Communities through Social Innovation, which was a service learning course. Her experiences included shadowing an Occupational Therapist at the Allenvale School of Special Education, which allowed her to gain patient contact hours required for graduate school, restructuring communities that had been destroyed by an earthquake in 2011, and the highlight of her trip, which was working with Recreate NZ, where college students led trips across the country with groups of youth with disabilities.
“In addition to seeing something beautiful at every corner, I believe studying abroad allowed me to become established as a professional in a culture that was different from my own,” declares Casey.
Students who are interested in studying abroad should go to the UTK Programs Abroad office in Melrose Hall or visit their website.