Kathy Corley has taken 10 trips with Peace students in the last 17 years.
Since 2007, Corley took the lead of the William Peace University Study Abroad Program. The program gives Pacers the opportunity to see parts of the world that most wouldn’t have had the chance to see otherwise. Students have taken trips to Italy, England, Ireland, Wales, Netherlands, France, Spain, Mexico, Ecuador, Australia, Qatar, Morocco, South Africa, Japan, London, Paris and Costa Rica.
The program isn’t just travel. There’s a pre-trip prep class created by the lead faculty before students leave, Corley explained.
“[The class] delves into the specific country, cities, specific site visits, but it usually starts out something much broader, which is global cultural competencies, because some of these students have never been out of the state of North Carolina,” Corley said. “We want to prepare them to be good global citizens. To be respective, to be humble, to be gracious, to be the guest in somebody else’s county.”
Next year, there’s a bigger trip planned, with stops in Prague, Berlin, Krakow and Vienna. Professor Corley is currently recruiting students and alumni for the 2025 trip. Anyone interested in participating should email Professor Corley (kcorley@peace.edu), Dr. Jen Blush (jmblush@peace.edu) or Dawn Dillon (ddillon@peace.edu). Interested participants can also enroll at www.efstudyabroad.com.
Taking in Different Cultures
“I always wanted to travel, I just wasn’t sure if I could do it, it didn’t seem real,” said Peace senior Megan McAnany.
McAnany has taken two trips with the program, first to Budapest, Hungary and Slovenia, then to London and Paris. The ultimate goal is for the students to ingrain themselves in the local culture for the duration of the visit.
“It was very eye opening, in all good ways. It makes me realize the way we do things isn’t the right way, it’s just a different way,”McAnany said. “Everyone else does things differently, it doesn’t mean it’s the wrong way and we can learn from them in ways like that.”
Students earn two credit hours for the trip and have to write a paper about their experience once they return home. Students typically keep a daily journal while overseas.
“I’ve always been interested in culture, history, and stuff like that,” John Pfeiffer, who traveled to the British Isles said. “I learned a lot. On all levels it was mesmerizing.”
Making Trips Happen
Peace students must have a 2.6 GPA to attend. The entire program typically costs $4,500, but the University offers travel grants, which can reduce the cost by 20 percent.
Corley and staff start planning trips about a year and a half out. In fact, the talks for the 2026 trips (Amsterdam and Coppenhagan) have already started.
The itineraries for each trip are planned down to the minute and each group is paired with a travel partner through a group called Education First Tours (EFT) as well as a local tour guide in each city, who stays with the group 24/7.
“It almost seems not real, like those places didn’t exist for some reason to me,” McAnany said. “It just seems like something not real, you see it online. Then actually being there, you realize how much more there is to the world and that there’s not just America or your small town. There’s so much more to offer, so much more beauty, history, culture, all that.”
Grateful for the Program
McAnany, who is from California, used the word grateful when asked about Peace making it all possible.
“It’s like the best thing that’s ever happened. I would have never been able to go to any of these places at all, probably ever, if I didn’t have the program,” McAnany said. “A lot of my thoughts and ways and lifestyle have changed because of it. I wouldn’t have had any of this without the program.”
Pfeiffer adds, “I think it was awesome of the school to be able to do that for us. It’s an awesome opportunity for anyone who wants to experience something outside of their own culture, outside of their own world, their own realm of thinking and look at the world a little differently.”
Corley’s satisfaction comes from the looks on the students’ faces when they take in these new life experiences for the first time. The trips have proven to have a long-lasting impact on all students who participate.
“Their generation is going to be impacted by global influences and to be comfortable and to have mixed it up a little bit with people who have different languages, different work ethics, different clothing, different food, it’s so important,” Corley said. “They aren’t going to be able to escape it and they will be more effective in the workplace if they have these experiences and these encounters.”
