By Morgan Hoffman, Contributing Writer
Trinity College is home to St. Bonaventure University’s Francis E. Kelley Oxford Program, providing an opportunity for students to live in England for six weeks over the summer while they attend classes and experience a new culture.
This year, Trinity College is offering the St. Bonaventure program additional spaces.
The Oxford Program contracts rooms annually from Trinity College to be filled by Bonaventure students.
The program has limited spaces available and usually fills up before the end of the fall semester, but for the first time, Trinity has offered five additional spaces, outside of the contract, to St. Bonaventure.
Michael Jones-Kelley, director of the Oxford program and professor of journalism and mass communication, said that the additional spaces were offered because Trinity College likes the St. Bonaventure students.
“The students have made a very good impression,” said Anne Lee, associate professor and assistant director of the program. “They’re polite, they’re cooperative and they don’t cause any problems.”
St. Bonaventure’s Oxford program has been tied to Trinity College for almost a decade.
Throughout this time, an excellent relationship has formed between the two, and in the past few years, the Oxford program has seen growth as more rooms have gradually been added to the contract.
Students who attend the summer program typically take two classes. The courses offered include both electives and various general education courses required by the St. Bonaventure curriculum.
Jones-Kelley described the classes as self-taught. He believes this is a great way for students to learn and said that he has even brought some of the lessons back to his own classes here at St. Bonaventure.
Lara McCormick, a sophomore political science major, went on the trip to Oxford in the summer of 2017. She said that the cultural experience is the most important takeaway a student can gain on the trip.
“There was so much to explore in the city,” said McCormick. “After a week or two, Oxford was familiar and no longer felt like a foreign country. You were able to adapt to the culture, which is something that was truly special.”
To learn more about the program and to find the online application, students can visit www.sbu.edu/oxford. The official deadline to apply is March 1, 2018.
