{"524841":{"#nid":"524841","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Georgia Tech\u0027s 20,000th Study Abroad Student Surprised With Free Airline Ticket","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EWith over 120 different study abroad programs to choose from, it\u2019s not surprising that so many Georgia Tech students take full advantage of adding some stamps to their passport while completing their education.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAbout 52 percent of Yellow Jackets will get some type of international experience while enrolled. The national average at other colleges and universities across the United States is around 8 to 10 percent.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAfter doing some calculating, Georgia Tech\u2019s Office of International Education (OIE) determined that in 2016 they would reach the milestone of sending their 20,000th\u0026nbsp; student abroad. They decided to mark that milestone by covering airfare costs for that student.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EStudents applying for summer and fall 2016 programs were eligible, and the 20,000\u003Csup\u003Eth\u003C\/sup\u003E study abroad student was one who had been eager for the opportunity to travel.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EKyle Lucas has been looking forward to traveling to South Korea since becoming friends with an exchange student from that country in high school. His father\u2019s cancer diagnosis led to two difficult decisions to delay the study abroad experience.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cIt\u2019s kind of a scary thing to say \u2018Yeah, I\u2019m going to go away for four months to another country,\u2019 and you don\u2019t know what\u2019s going to happen,\u201d said Lucas.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ENow that Lucas is able to travel, it works out well that he\u2019s also Georgia Tech\u2019s 20,000th\u0026nbsp;study abroad student. After getting accepted to his dream exchange program at Yonsei University in Seoul, South Korea, the mechanical engineering student also earned an OIE scholarship that will help defray tuition costs.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAdd the free plane ticket, and the study abroad experience for this third-year student just got a whole lot sweeter.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cIt\u2019s great for our office to realize that our work is coming to fruition,\u201d says Education Abroad Scholarships Advisor Ashlee Flinn.\u0026nbsp; \u201cWe\u2019re helping students to do something that they wouldn\u2019t otherwise be able to do.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EFor more information on Georgia Tech\u2019s study abroad programs visit \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.oie.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003Ewww.oie.gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"Mechanical engineering major hits a milestone for Office of International Education."}],"field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EKyle Lucas has been looking forward to traveling to South Korea since becoming friends with an exchange student from that country in high school.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Kyle Lucas has been looking forward to traveling to South Korea since becoming friends with an exchange student from that country in high school."}],"uid":"27563","created_gmt":"2016-04-14 14:49:04","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:21:21","author":"Alana Franklin","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2016-04-14T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2016-04-14T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"related_links":[{"url":"https:\/\/oie.gatech.edu\/","title":"Office of International Education"}],"groups":[{"id":"1297","name":"Office of International Education"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:steven.norris@comm.gatech.edu\u0022\u003ESteven Norris\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EInstitute Communications\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}