International Programs   NewsRelease

ULONDA SLAUGHTER TRAVELS TO MEXICO
AS UNCG’S 1,000TH EXCHANGE STUDENT
 

Ulonda Slaughter (center) is seen with Lydia Arledge (L) of the Bryan School and  Penelope Pynes of the International Studies Program.

GREENSBORO—Ulonda Slaughter has studied Spanish since she was in the 9th grade, but this fall she’ll get to “live” the language in Mexico.

Slaughter is on a one-year student exchange at a university in Guadalajara, Mexico, some 3,000 miles from her home in Matthews, N.C. The rising junior also has the distinction of being the 1,000th student to go abroad through the International Studies Program at The University of North Carolina of Greensboro. She got on the jet in late July.

“I’ve wanted to go to another country, to enjoy a different culture, for years,” said Slaughter. “It’s something I started thinking about when I was in middle school. I’m really excited.”

In Mexico, she will spend the year at the Guadalajara campus of the Instituto Tecnologico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey (Institute of Technology and Higher Studies of Monterrey). The institution has classes in both English and Spanish, and Slaughter will be able to take courses in finance, marketing international business and Spanish. There are numerous academic and social organizations and all exchange students can take internships with local businesses in Guadalajara. She’s got three Mexican roommates, so she’ll get plenty of practice with her Spanish.

When the spring semester ended at UNCG, Slaughter got her checklist of do’s and don’ts for exchange students. She got her passport. Her mother bought travel books on Mexico and they collected information on cultural attractions around Guadalajara, Mexico’s second largest city and is located in the southwest part of the country.

She spent her summer working at B.F. Goodrich in Charlotte and packing for Mexico. Air travel regulations let her take three bags, each weighing a maximum of 70 pounds. That 210-pound total sounded like a lot, but Slaughter had to carry a year’s worth of clothes, shoes and personal items, and enough toiletries until she can find suitable substitutes in Guadalajara. She had to juggle a few items at the airport, moving things between bags; however, everything made the trip.

Before she left, she mused about the packing process: “I want to take my music so I’ll probably bring some CDs and a CD player, I’ll have a phone card so I can call home. I’ll take some of my Spanish books, too, and that’s  just a little bit of it.”

UNCG officials are excited for Slaughter, too, because sending the 1,000th student off on an exchange is one mark of a fully matured program that is accepted internationally, according to Dr. Charles Lyons, associate provost for international programs at UNCG. Lyons came to UNCG in the fall of 1991 as the institution’s first director of international programs. Since then, UNCG has established exchange agreements with over 40 institutions in 16 nations. The largest numbers of exchange programs are with universities in Mexico, Australia, Germany and the United Kingdom. Since 1998, UNCG has averaged more than 200 students going abroad annually—a goal the program hit two years ahead of schedule.

 “These exchanges promote student growth, and maturity is what our students bring home with them,” said Lyons. “We send kids overseas and we get adults back. Study abroad simply makes these students better, more mature people. When they return, they see this country and the world through a different set of eyes.”

At UNCG, Slaughter is a top student in the Bryan School of Business and Economics. She is working toward a degree in international business and Spanish, is a member of the University Honors Program and has a 3.93 grade point average. She holds a Kathleen P. and Joseph M. Bryan Scholarship, which provides a financial award for exchange program studies. Slaughter also received an award of $800 from two separate funds in the UNCG International Studies Program Endowment, which this year reached a level of $4.1 million.

Faculty members who know in the school expect her to excel abroad. Eloise McCain Hassell, who taught her during the 2000-01 year, said, “She was an absolutely wonderful student in my Management 330 class on the legal environment of business. She was a class leader and took advantage of all extra credit opportunities – she’ll do great and will be a great representative for UNCG.”

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