Year: 2020

By Devin Orr, Study Abroad Intern

As college students, many of us are used to having to figure most things out on our own. That can make it a huge undertaking when you’re trying to find a study abroad program. Luckily though, there are many on-campus resources and people who are more than happy to help you in the search for a program that’s perfect for you! 

During my search, I didn’t actually utilize any of the resources available to me, and that made my experience so much more difficult than it had to be. I spent hours combing through the Clemson terradotta app (which is not the most user-friendly, mind you) and trying a million different search combinations to find a program that interested me when in reality, all I had to do was set up a meeting with my advisor and see what she recommended.

In my opinion, the best course of action to take if you’re interested in going abroad is to speak with your advisor! They have the latest scoop on all of the awesome opportunities that fit your major and your interests, so they are best suited to give you some guidance. Not only are they knowledgeable in all things your major, but they can also help you pick the best program for your remaining course list. This is the most important facet of the study abroad search! You want to make sure that you’re fulfilling your requirements while also choosing something that interests you, and this is where your advisor comes in. 

Some other useful resources on campus include Clemson Abroad, which holds Study Abroad 101 meetings throughout the year in which students learn all about what steps they need to take, what kind of stuff to bring, and a plethora of other important information. You can find all of these meetings on the Clemson University Calendar.

You can also wander around campus and find half a million flyers with potential study abroad opportunities. In fact, you can check out the AG Quad buildings and Hendrix to find flyers I made to advertise Sustainable Cities in Scandinavia, Clemson’s only faculty-led program in Sweden. 

Now let’s get into all the different varieties of study abroad opportunities! Being an out of state student myself, one of the best parts about Clemson’s study abroad programs is that you get in-state tuition when you go on a faculty-led study abroad to one of Clemson’s partner universities, which are located all over the world! When you decide on a faculty led program, you also avoid the hassle of having to find accommodation, organizing your own travel, and that of transferring credits. 

If none of the Clemson faculty directed programs interest you and you want to do a third party program, there are so many of those to choose from as well, and they have their own unique benefits. Although you will have to get credits approved by Clemson faculty and go through the credit transfer process, there are way more third party opportunities than Clemson faculty-directed programs, so you may be able to find one that fits you best. Depending on the program you choose, you will be more deeply immersed in the culture of the country you go to and have more options for courses.

Exchange programs are another awesome way to go abroad. I have had many friends come and go as exchange students throughout my time at Clemson, and I gotta say, they were some of the coolest people I’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting! Basically, you just pay the amount of your current Clemson tuition, then you switch spots with a student at one of Clemson’s partner universities, and bam you’re in a new country at a new school studying! 

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Considering a study abroad opportunity this summer? Check out the Study Abroad Fair on Wednesday, February 7 from 10 am to 3 pm at the Hendrix Center.

Lacey Hennessey believes everyone has a marketable skill.

After talking to her for a few minutes, however, you realize she has more skills than most.

Her business started when she was a student in the parks, recreation and tourism management program at Clemson University, and looking to make some extra money to help pay for her school and living expenses.

“I was able to use my artistic ability to have a little fun while earning the extra money I needed,” she says. “I made things like fraternity coolers and decorative items for people’s apartments, and kept getting new business from people telling others to ‘see if Lacey does it’.”

If she didn’t know how to do something she was asked to create, she’d look it up online and become an expert at it.

Her skills came in handy after she completed her degree and began working in a marketing firm in Greenville, where she saw an opportunity to use her creative abilities to save her employer and its clients time and money.

“My job was to manage the agency’s events, and as I was doing it, I realized I could add value by doing things like making the floral arrangements and signage myself,” she says.

Lacey worked full-time and managed her business on the side for a couple of years. One day an office consultant asked her what she’d most like to do and she responded that she wanted to paint. She also wanted more flexibility and freedom to travel.

“I loved my coworkers, my clients and the projects I worked on, but I didn’t love that two-week vacation policy,” she says. “I realized I wanted the freedom to say yes to new opportunities.”

Soon after, she set out on her own and started running her business, Hennessy in the Home, full-time. Her business provides artwork, custom gifts, home décor, and wedding and event planning services. Lacey creates everything from t-shirt designs to painting murals, most recently at Clemson’s new Tipsy Taco restaurant. She also continues to provide event planning services for her former agency.

She’s built an online presence as a blogger and on Instagram, where she posts personally as @Lacey_does and for business @hennesseyinthehome, and which she credits for being hired to paint the Tipsy Taco mural. The project was so successful that she’s been asked to paint four more murals over the next two months.

Lacey says that her training in parks, recreation and tourism management gave her the background and internship opportunities she needed to get started.

“My events planning expertise gave me the value I needed to get in the door,” she says. “My internships helped me build contacts and find my mentor.”

Her advice to current students is to think about what you do well.

“If you have a skill that can help people, you have a potential business idea,” she says. “Someone will pay you for that service.”

You can learn more about Hennessey at the Home at hennesseyinthehome.com.

Harriet Gilpin (also known as Hattie) always dreamed of running her own business.

After earning a degree in parks, recreation and tourism management at Clemson University in 2015, Hattie was working for a boutique hotel company in New York when she realized the time to pursue that dream was now.

“Although I liked my job, I realized that the best time for me to pursue my dream of going into business for myself was before I got too settled into a relationship or wanted to start a family,” she says. “Starting a business when I did freed me to focus entirely on my work without competing pressures and priorities.”

Flash forward a few months, and Hattie’s walking dogs by day and crafting high quality jewelry in her apartment by night.

“I look back on them now as some of the best days of my life so far, but I would wake up to walk my first dog at 7 am and get back to my shoebox apartment 12 hours later to start making jewelry,” she says.  “Half the time I would fall asleep doing it and wake up with little pieces of jewelry and supplies stuck to my face.”

When Hattie reached the limits of what she could accomplish on her own, she reached out to a local jeweler for advice. In exchange for social media and website support, the jeweler became a mentor to Hattie, showing her the ins and outs of the jewelry industry.

“Working with her played a big role in my success,” she says. “She gave me the tools I needed to be successful, and I was able to help her with her business as well, so it was a win-win.”

Hattie’s small, home-based business is now an elevated jewelry line in New York City called Hattie Banks, which creates sophisticated pieces that quickly became favorites among celebrities and social media influencers. Her pieces are based on her childhood memories riding horses and on the beach, and are built to withstand daily wear.

Hattie says that her experience as a Clemson PRTM student taught her the importance of being a team player, and that she now looks for that quality in her employees.

“The Clemson PRTM program let us make mistakes, and then they guided us through fixing them,” she says. “Now when I hire someone new, I need to be sure they’re comfortable working in an environment that gives them the freedom to make mistakes, because that’s the only way we’ll get bigger and better.”

She also now focuses on paying it forward, by providing similar mentorship to other women starting their own businesses.

“If someone didn’t help me, I wouldn’t be where I am today,” she says. “I find it really important to give back. You have to.”

You can explore the Hattie Banks Jewelry Collection at HattieBanks.com or follow @byhattiebanks on Instagram.

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