Myra Questel and Deonna Smith didn’t spend their summer sun bathing at the beach, hanging out at pool parties or frittering away time at the mall. No, they spent a majority of the summer learning — but not from professors speaking in a lecture hall or books found in a library. Their teacher was experience, their classroom the world.
Questel and Smith, both Gonzaga University students, just returned recently from studying abroad. Questel traveled to London for five weeks while Smith spent six weeks exploring Mexico.
“I feel that this experience has impacted me on a deeper, more meaningful level,” Questel wrote in her study-abroad blog. “… I’ve learned so much about myself, about life and about this very small world we inhabit.”
Questel and Smith are both Act Six scholars, which is the Northwest’s only full-tuition, full-need scholarship initiative that seeks to develop urban leaders who want to use their college education to be agents of transformation on campus and in their home communities.
Questel, a junior-to-be from Lakes High School in Lakewood, Wash., is majoring in business and minoring in political science. Smith, who will be a sophomore this fall, is from Spokane’s Lewis & Clark High School. She is triple majoring in Spanish, international relations and political science.
Given their ambitious educational pursuits, it’s no surprise Questel and Smith opted to broaden their global perspectives this summer.
“The biggest lesson I took away from Mexico was that life is meant to be lived,” Smith said. “We should all have a time where we throw our worries away and just enjoy each moment that we are in.”
While abroad, Smith gained an appreciation for Mexico’s diversity. She visited major metropolitan areas like Mexico City as well as small towns like Cholula, where her tour bus got stuck in an alley, causing a 32-car traffic jam.
Smith toured Toltec and Aztec pyramids, churches and numerous cathedrals, including the Cathedral de la Virgen de Guadalupe. This particular cathedral is the largest outside of Europe and, in Smith’s view, “the most beautiful.”
She also dined on authentic Mexican cuisine, including a popular dish called mole that features meat and chocolate sauce.
“It is quite popular here in Mexico,” she said. “But I have to say, I am not very fond of it. It’s a little strange eating chocolate on your chicken.”
Instead of heading south, like Smith, Questel traveled across the pond. Highlights of her London trip include the usual tourist destinations, like Stonehenge, Big Ben, Parliament and the River Thames. But she also toured the British Museum, where she visited Cleopatra’s mummy, and the British Library, where she saw the Magna Carta, “which was very exciting for me as I’m considering a career in law and public policy.”
While in London, Questel even did a little star gazing—and no, it was not of the celestial variety. She saw Prince William and Princess Kate during the Jubilee Carriage Parade.
“One very important lesson I’ve taken away,” Questel said, “is that this world thrives on the endless connections made between countries, communities, families and people.”
For pictures and to read Smith’s and Questel’s full diary entries from their respective trips, visit the Act Six Abroad blog.
Studying abroad, however, is just part of what makes a Gonzaga education so transformative. To help students receive the complete Gonzaga experience, please make a gift to the Fund For Gonzaga. The Fund For Gonzaga directly supports the University’s highest priorities, meaning your gift will help create faculty positions, purchase computer monitors, supply the Foley Center with online research tools and, most importantly, replenish critical scholarship dollars. You can give online by visiting gonzaga.edu/giveonline.