Colorful Journeys

Students share vivid experiences through global photo contest

by MaryAlice Bitts-Jackson

When Siobahn Pierce ’16 was a Dickinson tour guide, she often fielded questions about the college’s well-known study-abroad program. Today, she's even more well-versed in the topic, having studied in Amman, Jordan, last semester, and she loves to share what she’s learned and experienced during her time abroad. The question is: How?

“As with any experience, it is difficult to explain it to someone who did not experience it with you—even close friends and family,” says Pierce, an international-studies major who minors in Arabic and is working toward a security studies certificate. “Photos help give a reference point.”

That’s the concept behind the Global Education Photo Contest exhibition, an annual event that gives returning study-abroad students like Pierce a visual way to share the perspectives and knowledge they gained while abroad as well as providing international students a venue for highlighting their U.S. experience. The 2015 show, which was on display in the Waidner-Spahr Library through March, featured more than 60 photos, and offered a wide-ranging, though often highly personal view of some of the key moments of the photographers' undergraduate lives.

Pierce’s photo of a young refugee was named overall prize-winner by a panel of faculty and administrator judges. In the single categories, the winners are:

• Architecture and landscape: Catherine Turvey ’15 (sociology)
• Culture and local people/life: Megan O’Neill ’15 (English, Africana studies)
• Dickinsonians Engaging the Host City: Ashton Fiucci ’15 (Spanish, Italian studies)
• Perspectives of the U.S.: Tiancheng Zhang ’17 (mathematics, economics)
• Share Your Story: Angeline Apostolou ’15 (international studies)

Pierce snapped her award-winning photo while visiting the subject and his family at their work camp in the Jordanian desert. “Thankfully, this boy is growing up in a peaceful, quiet environment with his family ,but for me, this photo speaks to the many others who are victims of chronic violence in the region but have not found solace,” she says.

In her multiple-photo entry, Apostolou, who studied in the Dickinson in Cameroon Program, depicts facets of Cameroonian culture—dance, worship, family, celebration and unity—by showcasing photos she took while on bus trips during major Cameroonian holidays.

Fiucci took her winning photo while touring the Piazza Santo Stefano during her first week in the Dickinson in Bologna program. “I enjoyed showing my photos through the contest because it made me think about what the pictures really represented [about] the culture and life of Bologna,” she says. “It was also interesting to see everyone else’s photos and to see what photos they thought represented their personal immersion experience.”

View a gallery of the photos 

Learn more

• The Global Experience at Dickinson
• Global Study and Engagement
• “Steeped in Internationalism”
• Latest News

Published April 3, 2015