Brown and White Vol. 127 no. 17

              The Brown and White
Vol. 127 No. 17
Tuesday, November 4, 2014
‘All the Lehigh News First’
Lehigh senior Alexander surveyed the room as the Physics 2 teaching assistants distributed the first exam­ination of the semester.
Pen clicking. Leg bouncing. Nail biting.
The scene was all too familiar to Alexander as he’d been in the shoes
Pushed to the limit: the extremes of stress management
By AMANDA WILK
Special to the B&W
of his sophomore classmates many times before. He used to wither from the intense stress. He used to feel the hopelessness. He used to accept failure before writing his name on the page.
But today, he wasn’t feeling those things — he was only feeling confi­dent.
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Alexander, an industrial and sys­Financial
concerns, academic time constraints and future success are just a few of the issues a student must consider when it comes study­ing abroad.
According to Noel Panebianco, a study abroad counselor, a large per­centage of every graduating class studies abroad. Forty percent of the 2014 graduate class went abroad and around 20 percent went more than once.
The Study Abroad Office believes that every student should go abroad at least once, so why aren’t 100 per­cent of Lehigh students choosing to study in a foreign country at some point during their college career?
Some students are reporting chal­lenges when they begin the process of deciding where to go. The main issue is that students say they receive false information from their peers, Lehigh’s Study Abroad Office and other Lehigh professors. Other stu­academic
support for the first time ever at Lehigh.
Two months ago, Alexander was connected to a graduate student physics tutor through the Center for Academic Success, and he said he already notices a significant improvement.
According to research conducted
tems engineering major who has chosen to use a pseudonym for this story, had already failed this test and course before during his sophomore year. He was too proud to ask for help from his professors, so he let his stress consume him, along with his GPA. Three years, two repeated courses and one case of extreme self-disappointment is what it took for him to swallow his pride and seek
Kimberly Goldberg, ’15, regret­ted her decision to stay at Lehigh and focus on her accounting major. Echoing Panebianco’s sentiments on false information, Goldberg said that her peers influenced her decision.
“I felt pressure to fulfill my major requirements,” Goldberg said. “In the end, I guess it was possible, but many people discouraged me(...)Some of my older friends who were accounting majors went abroad and regretted
dents are unsure if it is even possible for them to go for reasons including internship searches and their major. Many of these students do not get an opportunity to explore their possibil­ities with study abroad counselors because of these misconceptions.
“I think that the biggest barriers are the ones that students put on themselves or the false information that they get from campus saying that abroad isn’t really necessary,” Panebianco said.
Some students agree that there are misconceptions and identify a variety of factors that contribute. Lehigh’s Study Abroad Office aims to provide resources that accommodate students in several of these situations.
‘I felt pressure to fulfill my major requirements’
The many academic opportuni­ties at Lehigh require dedication to excel. Because of this, some students remain on campus in order to focus on their studies.
By PAIGE MANDY
B&W Staff
See ABROAD Page 4
See STRESS Page 3
Academic, financial uncertainties pose barriers to study abroad
Aminat Ologunebi/B&W Staff
Sally Medina, ’18, studies at Linderman Library earlier this semester. The library is frequently packed with students around exam periods.
it because of the severe course load senior year.”
Panebianco said that academics are not an excuse when a student has the opportunity to go abroad any time of the year. She said engineering stu­dents usually have an open window during the fall of their junior year, as long as they plan early.
Justin Minder, ’15, is a chemical engineering major who did not make an appointment to meet with a coun­selor about his possibilities.
“I know it would’ve set me back in my core classes,” Minder said. “It’s also not Lehigh’s culture to go abroad during your junior fall, so I wouldn’t have wanted to be the only one of my friends leaving.”
As Panebianco said, the issue lies within outside factors, like peers and faculty, who voice their opinions early on. These students agreed that they were influenced before they had an opportunity to consider their options.