My name is Sarah Mills and I am a senior public relations major and political science minor from Davidson, North Carolina. I'll be graduating from the University of South Carolina on May 6, 2017. I don't currently have a set plan for after graduation, but I'm hoping to find an internship for a year before going back to grad school to pursue a career in either higher education or public administration. If it weren't for my study abroad experience in Dublin, Ireland, I don't think I'd have a clue what I want to do with my life. I learned so much within the classroom in my four years at USC, but it was during my beyond the classroom experience that transformed my college years. The combination of the two has made my decision to attend the University of South Carolina the best decision of my life.
This is my e-portfolio for Graduation with Leadership Distinction in Global Learning. I will discuss three key insights I learned from my study abroad trip to Dublin, Ireland: The Importance of Diversity in Collaboration, Keeping Life in Perspective, and The Positive Effect of Building a Community. These insights were gained from both my within the classroom and beyond the classroom experiences, and have impacted my life in my college career and beyond.
My collegiate career involved a lot of twists and turns. I changed majors twice, interned and worked, decided to study abroad last minute, and at the end of it all, I'm still not entirely sure what I'm doing. Not knowing where I'll be in May would have stressed me out to no end a year ago, but for right now I'm very at peace with it. I can't wait to use my time before grad school to decide what I want to do.
The idea of Graduation with Leadership Distinction was appealing to me for several reasons, aside from just getting another graduation cord. Since my college experience may seem like it was a little bit all over the place, I wanted to be able to package it and show what it meant to me and what I learned from it in a concise, organized way. My beyond the classroom experience in Dublin, Ireland was easily the most impactful thing I did as an undergrad, but at times it's been hard for me to put into words what I learned abroad and what it meant to me. I believe that it made me a more well-balanced person, but that's not always easy to express.
I've always been passionate about travel, but it wasn't until I got to college that I was able to do very much of it. I took a trip to Japan my sophomore year, and after that, I was hooked. I spent hours and hours planning my study abroad, looking up places I wanted to visit, and choosing where I wanted to go. Dublin was an easy answer. I'd always wanted to visit Ireland, and they offered a journalism program where I would be able to take upper division classes required for my public relations major. I thought it would be a fun adventure and the prospect of traveling Europe was enticing, but it ended up being so much more than that. I thought I knew myself pretty well, but spending three and a half months in Ireland taught me so many things, which are detailed in my Key Insights section. It gave me the drive and focus I needed to decide what I want to do after graduation. While I'm still not positive what I want to do, I believe that I would still be completely lost without my beyond the classroom experience in Dublin.
