By: Joe Campbell
Camden County College (CCC) certainly doesn’t lack in extracurricular activities. At CCC you can find clubs that range anywhere from the Christian Connection Club to the Dental Hygiene Club. Students can also enjoy a browse through the college’s newspaper or tune in to WDBK, CCC’s student staffed radio station. Sports include baseball, basketball, soccer and golf. With the exception of dorm rooms and a 20,000 seat football stadium, there aren’t many things that separate CCC from four year colleges.
Another theme at CCC becoming more noticed is the emerging amount of foreign students in classrooms. It is so highly noticed lately that you can find the International Students Service office in the Community Center room 107. Flying over an ocean to attend college is something that local CCC students don’t need to give much thought to. But what if we could make it an option for some students to make the trip over The Pacific for a semester or two? The reference here is eluting to an extracurricular that CCC currently does not include; a semester abroad program that would take place in another country.
Not much discussion has there been about this topic, but what some people would like to know is the possibility of CCC ever adopting an idea like this. Assistant to the Dean of Students, Jackie Tenuto had a few comments on the idea. When asked if she had ever heard of any ideas regarding such a program, Tenuto responded, “Not that I’m aware of”. She went on to say, “Programs like that are more often found in four year schools”. Tenuto had a bit more to say when asked about the reasons CCC has not implemented such a program. She added, “It could be a liability to the college that never had to be of concern in the past”. Another point Tenuto expressed is that, “Most people attend CCC to save money, not to spend it on semesters in other countries”. But don’t become too disappointed yet if you think you’d be interested in something like this. When asked if such a program could come into view at CCC, Tenuto explained “If a faculty member was interested in an idea like this, it would be presented and then discussed by other faculty members”.
The idea for now seems to be, at most, a discussion for the future. What it seems like however, is that the first step to this process is a simple spark of interest to one faculty member. Of course once or if that happens, the next big step will be the spark of interest to a preferably large group of students. Students who would be willing to pay whatever total price such a program would cost. One student in particular was certainly excited to say the least for a program like this. Corey Schmidt, 21, of Moorestown, NJ, when asked about his interest in a semester in a country such as Germany responded, “I’d love that. I’ve always wanted to visit the country of my ancestors but just haven’t had the money for it”. When asked how he would come up with the necessary payments for a semester in Europe, Schmidt confidently stated, “If it was involved with school, I think I could convince my parents to chip in some extra money”.
For all you future prospects of a semester abroad program, you know that there is at least one person with the same aspirations. Although such a program at CCC does seem a bit unlikely today, only time will tell what the future holds.