Michael Lyons won the Education Abroad Center’s “Aggies Abroad” division in its 2008 contest with this photo, titled “A Hairy Encounter.” (Michael Lyons/photo)
Education Abroad Photo Contest 2009
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The city of Davis seemed a world away — maybe even farther — as I marveled at the awesome sight of the Eiffel Tower on Bastille Day, the heat of the fireworks pressing against my face.
Now that I’m back to Davis, three months later and fully into the swing of fall quarter, I’m looking forward to taking a break from the books and revisiting my adventures, as well as getting a peek at the stories of other students.
If a picture paints a thousand words, then you are in for a good tale or two. The Education Abroad Center is putting on a photography contest open to all students who traveled abroad during the academic year 2008-2009. More than 500 photos have been submitted to the Education Abroad Photo Contest 2009.
From now until Nov. 15, everyone, and that includes friends, family and fellow travelers from across the world, will get the opportunity to vote for their favorites. People should register on the site and then can vote for as many photos as they like.
Three categories
This year there are three categories of submission: natural and urban landscapes, people and culture, and Aggies abroad. Winners will be announced on Nov. 16, a strategic date, since that is also the beginning of International Education Week.
The lucky first-place winner in each category will receive a $100 gift certificate to the UC Davis Bookstore, and those in second place will win a copy of this year’s campus community book project, The Geography of Bliss: One Grump’s Search for the Happiest Places in the World, plus a ticket to hear author Eric Weiner speak at the Mondavi Center on Dec. 1.
This is not the first photo contest run by the Education Abroad Center, but it is the biggest with about five times the number of entries submitted last year, thanks to a coordinated effort by Camran Sadeghi, outreach coordinator for the center, and University Communications, which designed and developed the contest Web site.
More than 1,300 invited
More than 1,300 students — the number who participated in the various study abroad programs sponsored through the University of California and UC Davis — were invited to participate.
“This contest was designed to get as many people as we can to look at great student photography and see the world through students’ eyes,” says Susanne Rockwell, Web editor for University Communications.
There’s a connection between the campus’s emphasis on study abroad and this year’s campus book, says Mikael Villalobos, administrator of diversity education programs on campus and chair of the annual campus community book project.
“For a student who wants the education abroad experience, finding one’s bliss, whether it is in the learning experience or the relationships that you build or your exposure to a different culture … all make up what bliss may be to that person as part of the experience of going abroad,” he says.
Villalobos notes that the book is a perfect read for students looking to study abroad as well as for those who have returned from an adventure of their own.