Study abroad returns to McHenry County College post-COVID-19

McHenry County College junior Brady Bird has never left the continental U.S.

But Saturday, he becomes the first McHenry County College student since the COVID-19 pandemic to take part in the college’s study abroad program. Bird will head to Canterbury, England, for a semester at Canterbury Christ Church University.

“It’s a pretty cool feeling to be doing this,” Bird said, “to be the first person since before [COVID-19]. It’s an honor to be able to represent MCC this way.”

Bird, who lives in Lake in the Hills and attended Huntley High School, said his father pushed him to look into traveling while in college. Two friends at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign who recently studied abroad also helped inspire him to pursue the experience.

“They both had really positive things to say about the experience,” Bird said. “That helped solidify my decision to go through with it.”

The ability for students to study abroad as part of their community college education is really special, said Lindsay Carson, the faculty member who spearheads MCC’s study abroad program. Carson also teaches Spanish and is the chair of the Crystal Lake-based college’s philosophy and language departments.

“It’s an opportunity for them to have a global experience and get that on their resume,” said Carson, who has been leading the program since 2009. “We send our students on the same programs as universities, but we don’t charge the same tuition. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience they are getting at a low cost. It was pretty devastating to not be able to send students on programs for three years.”

At the moment, MCC is partnered with an international consortium of colleges, as well as community colleges in Illinois and Wisconsin, through which it can send students to six countries: Austria, Costa Rica, England, France, Ireland and Spain.

“We worked really hard to grow the program,” Carson said. “[COVID-19] just came out of nowhere and shut everything down for a long time.”

By 2020, McHenry County College was typically sending 10 to 20 students abroad during its popular summer session, Carson said. At the time of the pandemic, three MCC students were in Europe, and they had to return halfway through their programs that spring.

Now, in addition to Bird, the college already has several applicants for the summer program who are hoping to study in Ireland and France, Carson said. The deadline for applications is Feb. 15.

As a college student, Bird also has experienced the transition out of the pandemic period as MCC, just like other schools, has gradually returned to pre-pandemic norms as much as possible.

In fall 2020, when Bird first enrolled at MCC, most of his classes were online, with in-person requirements switching from mandatory masking and social distancing to more lenient campus protocols as long as students and staff had vaccine cards.

Now, with COVID-19 largely in the rearview mirror and finances less of a stressor, Bird said the only real challenge he expects will be getting over homesickness when he first arrives.

“It’s going to be a long time away from friends and family I’m used to seeing every day,” Bird said.

However, Bird said he’s been in touch with other students from around Illinois who will be joining him in Canterbury.

Other preparations for the trip include grabbing an outlet conversion kit, obtaining a passport and starting a journal, which Bird said he’s never done before.

The experience of study abroad benefits students on different levels, Carson said, citing the potential for personal growth in addition to the more practical benefits such as accruing credit or credentials for one’s resume.

“When I studied abroad, I was bouncing around majors, but the experience helped me nail down my degree choice,” said Carson, who studied in Mexico through an Elgin Community College program before later studying in Spain through DePaul University. “Sometimes, when students are taken out of their comfort zone, that gives them different experiences that can help solidify what they want to do.”

Daniel Kalbach was one of the last MCC students to study abroad before the pandemic. He said one of the most exciting things he did during his one-month summer program in Costa Rica was a language exchange with K-12 students.

“You get a different culture perspective,” Kalbach said. “I’m now connected with a lot of people from Costa Rica. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and I would recommend it to anyone.”

The one-month summer program, which took place at the Costa Rican Language Academy in San Jose, involved an intensive schedule where students assisted at an orphanage in addition to going on field trips and excursions, such as touring the rainforest and a volcano.

Although Kalbach isn’t sure what he wants to do with his career, he said the Spanish-speaking skills he gained through MCC, and the program specifically, are something that he feels proud of.

The resume aspect also looms large, Carson said, especially for those such as Bird, who plan to transfer when they’re finished with MCC.

“It shows they are independent, responsible, interested in learning about other people and cultures, and shows they are global citizens who care about interacting with others on a different level,” Carson said.