By Shane Trevor / Jambar Contributor
Students at Youngstown State University have the opportunity to travel the world and create memories to last a lifetime.
YSU offers students the chance to gain new experiences through trips to countries such as Greece, Ireland, Guatemala or the Bahamas.
Adam Earnheardt, professor in the Department of Strategic Communication and Media, has organized trips to Greece and Turkey. He described the experience as life changing.
“To be immersed in the culture, even if it is just for 10 days, is something that is life changing. And we’ve seen that happen before where students will go on a study abroad trip and come back and say, you know, ‘This completely changed my life,’” Earnheardt said.
Earnheardt is planning his next trip to Ireland for spring 2027. He said the trip to Ireland will revolve around how the country views and covers sports in their culture and media.
“The purpose of this trip is to explore the community and culture in Ireland through sports — or through the lens of sports. Maybe even with a particular focus on sports media or media in general,” Earnheardt said.
However, the communication department is not the only one taking students abroad.
Every December, Matt O’Mansky, professor of anthropology, arranges trips to the Bahamas on an archeological dig.
“The most important thing is interacting with other cultures — even when you’re doing archeology, digging up past societies,” O’Mansky said.
O’Mansky said he has a passion for getting students out of the classroom and learning hands-on. In 2023, O’Mansky established the Meaghan Galloway Study Abroad/Anthropology Scholarship.
Every year, O’Mansky holds a fundraiser for the scholarship at Westside Bowl in Youngstown.
The fundraiser consists of a concert where O’Mansky joins YSU colleagues to create a musical performance.
“We’re doing our third-annual concert this year — Oct. 19. Each year, we’ve raised several thousand dollars and now the scholarship is over $10,000. We gave it, for the first time, to a student last year,” O’Manksy said.
International trips are not the only way for students to travel and experience culture.
Amy Fluker, associate professor of history, has taken students on trips to historical sites across the U.S.
Fluker organized trips to the Women’s Rights National Historical Park and the National Women’s Hall of Fame in Seneca Falls, New York. Fluker also brought students to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, as well as the Cleveland Museum of Art.
“When you travel to historic sites — see what real people saw, touch the things they touched — you have such a better appreciation for the past,” Fluker said. “When you stop to think about why these sites exist — because people understood that what happened there had meaning and significance — you better understand how the past still influences us today.”
Fluker is taking students on a day trip to Antietam National Battlefield and Harpers Ferry National Historical Park on Dec. 6.
“The highlight of the trip will be seeing the [Annual Memorial Illumination] at Antietam, where volunteers cover the battlefield with 23,000 candles — one for each casualty from the battle,” Fluker said.
With the variety of travel-aboard options and experiential-learning situations YSU offers, students interested in engaging with these trips can contact travelservices@ysu.edu or reach out to participating professors.