Photo provided by Kaitlyn Merklinger
By Madeline Lanning, Staff Writer
Students at Susquehanna University were hit with an incomprehensible decision following the news of the COVID-19 pandemic. That decision being, travel within the United States or attend a Zoom class for a few weeks to try and learn about a given host culture.
One student however was tasked not only with having her original dream Global Opportunities (GO) GO Trip canceled, but navigating a GO Your Way program amidst the pandemic. Kaitlyn Merklinger, a senior, had dreams of going on the Australia trip since she applied to Susquehanna. With a background in scuba diving, and a passion for the sciences, her ultimate goal was to explore Australia and dive the Great Barrier Reef.
Unfortunately, with travel restrictions placed on many countries, the Australia trip was cancelled twice, leaving Merklinger a hard choice. Either pay to sit at home on her computer and attempt to learn about a host culture that was most likely not Australia, or travel somewhere within our countries boarders.
“I knew I wanted to travel and paying for the virtual program was my last option if I couldn’t find anything,” said Merklinger.
Knowing that GO Your Way was an option the university offered, Merklinger began searching for opportunities within her reach. In December 2020, she was afforded the opportunity to go to Alaska for a medical internship. Here she would shadow two physician assistants on St. Lawrence Island. The culture she would be immersed in was much different from her own as well.
She stayed in a village called Savoonga, along with the physician assistants she shadowed, that is home to approximately 1,000 people of the Siberian Yupik tribe.
GO Your Way trips must be approved by the GO Office before they are allowed to take place. With that in mind, Merklinger proposed her internship and study abroad idea to the office and they approved the trip. Shane Sanders, Short-Term Programs Coordinator for the GO Office, aided Merklinger with the ins and outs of planning the trip within the bounds of our country.
Sanders stated, “due to the nature of our requirement, domestic travel has always been an option available to students,” she continued, “the minimum amount of time a student has to be immersed in their host culture is 14 days.”
Merklinger’s trip had met the time requirements, putting her one step closer to the immersion experience. Sanders stated that all of the GO options were still available during the pandemic, but what students did with the options was really dependent upon the type of experience they were looking for.
“Tailored internships, a specific course being offered with a partnering provider, and those looking for independence on dates and times of their GO experience typically leaned toward the GO Your Way,” said Sanders.
Seeing as Merklinger’s experience would aid in future endeavors and she would be participating in an internship, choosing a GO Your Way during the pandemic seemed like the best move. Once the final decision was made for her to travel to Alaska, the next part of the process was to find financial aid or grants that would help her travel.
“I applied for a grant through the enrichment fund, within that is the Women’s Leadership Fund that was able to provide me my full amount for travel,” said Merklinger.
Assistant Provost Michaeline Shuman, who was Merklinger’s point of contact for the enrichment fund, said that she was a strong candidate for the funding.
“She clearly identified how the program in Alaska would benefit her academic focus and future career plans,” said Shuman, “she also took advantage of Career Development Services by having her application materials reviewed ahead of submission.”
“The enrichment funds were created through gifts from alumni in 2004 to support students in experiential learning activities,” said Shuman.
These activities could include: internships, service-learning opportunities, research experiences, GO Your Way programs, and more. Shuman has served as an administrator of the funds for the past eight years. She, and a committee of faculty and staff, review applications and award funding based on the strength of the applications.
Since the funds’ outreach has expanded over the years, the way the money is used is not strictly for GO Your Way, but that is what Merklinger ended up using hers for.
“If students are unsure if an experience is eligible for funding, they can schedule a 30 minute funding meeting via Handshake or stop by my drop in hours to ask questions,” said Shuman.
MySU also carries tons of information on how enrichment funding works and covers a wide variety of restrictions on funding and samples of applications if students are interested.
With enough money to travel and experience Alaska, Merklinger was now tasked with learning if there were any COVID-19 policies she had to follow when traveling. Masking in the airports and anywhere indoors or otherwise was mandatory, especially when she was participating in her internship. Merklinger also had to be vaccinated against COVID-19.
“I had to show my vaccination card as soon as I got off the plane in Nome, Alaska which was the first stop I made in my travels,” she said.
After completing her experience in Savoonga, Alaska and returning to Pennsylvania, Merklinger realized how glad she was that she was able to travel somewhere and learn about a different culture.
“I did a medical internship, my GO program, and physician assistant shadowing hours for my future,” she said, “ I was able to assist during different medical events and get real life experience, that hands on type of thing I would not have gained from a Zoom call.”
Sanders also stated that the whole situation with GO has been very difficult and disappointing for a lot of students. One thing she wanted to remind students of though, and Merklinger’s trip is a prime example of this, is that the “GO Requirement” is not actually a “study abroad” requirement. She stated that, “in normal times about 95% of students do complete their requirement by going abroad, but the goal of the experience is to immerse yourself in a culture different from your own.”
This experience aids students at Susquehanna in working toward their cross-cultural learning goals. Since this is how the requirement is actually run, it was easier to help students continue planning their GO requirements even when they could not physically travel.
“Intercultural development is possible without travel,” said Sanders. “That is why May 2022 graduates were offered the chance to “study abroad” virtually,” she continued.”
Though Merklinger was able to travel, it was still touch and go for some time during the process of approval of her trip, and learning if there were any restrictions while traveling within the country. She, along with the Career Development Center and the GO Office, were able to make her ideas become reality and now she has something to look back on forever.
