The University Fellows Experience, a highly selective group of Honors College students, is planning a trip to Cuba over spring break.
Jacqueline Morgan, associate dean for the Honors College, made the announcement of the groundbreaking trip in an email to the University Fellows.
“When the University Fellows Experience was founded, an international component during the junior year was listed as a critical element,” Morgan said in the email. “We are now ready to move forward in building that experience into the overall structure of the program.”
Morgan also said the trip was just an initial step and 10 Fellows would be able to go.
“We will leave Friday, March 22, return March 31st,” Morgan wrote. “All who are interested are encouraged to apply, but preference will be given to those who have already participated in the Black Belt Experience.”
The trip is only open to those already in the University Fellows program.
A 1,000 word essay stating the reasons for why the Fellow would want to travel to Cuba is required and due by Nov. 27.
Interviews will then be conducted for the finalists selected from the essay submissions and final selections will be made by December 14th. All travel expenses are covered.
David Wilson, a senior majoring in economics, wants to visit Cuba because of a desire to travel abroad, something that many University of Alabama students do.
“It’s not every day, you just can’t call your mom and dad and say, ‘Let’s go on a nice family vacation to Cuba,’” Wilson said. “So just to be able to have the opportunity to be able to go is just incredible. I think it will give those of us who are able to go to Cuba a very unique perspective into a culture and place that we really don’t know that much about.
“I think that will be a very valuable experience for us to know about a culture like Cuba which is a country that is so close to us and so inaccessible to most people.”
David Bailey is a senior working on a master’s degree in finance while pursuing an undergraduate degree in finance management. He is also the CEO of Forza Financial and wants to go into the financial services field working with international investment.
Bailey said there is much in common between the Black Belt Experience, a program that teams the Fellows up with community stakeholders in Marion County, Ala., and the upcoming trip to Cuba.
“There are a lot of similarities between the problems of poverty and social problems in the Black Belt as there is any other developing nation,” Bailey said. “The idea is to increase the exposure and put the students in different environments and see how other regions address some of the same problems that we face here in Alabama.”
Bailey said the other Fellows have all different types of backgrounds and interests and passions.
“I’m really interested in finance, international development, community development, how businesses work, so I’m really interested in seeing what type of economic opportunities there are that aren’t being met that need to be met,” Bailey said. “And also seeing first-hand the ramifications of what sanctions cause.”
