A year ago, Cedar Crest College, a liberal arts college for women in Allentown, Pennsylvania, announced an innovative new program where all incoming first-year students who were in good academic standing (a grade point average of at least 2.5) would be eligible for a study-abroad opportunity during spring break of their sophomore year. This year’s sophomore class will be heading to Rio de Janeiro this coming spring.
At this year’s convocation, Elizabeth Meade, interim president of Cedar Crest College, announced that this year’s entering class would travel to Athens, Greece, in the spring of 2019 for their Sophomore Expedition.
Mary Alice Ozechoski, vice president for student affairs and traditional enrollment at Cedar Crest College, stated that “we believe that the more our students see of the world, the better equipped they are to lead it. Through our Sophomore Expedition, our students won’t just learn about a new culture, they’ll also learn about themselves.”
The Sophomore Expedition also appears to be a an effective marketing tool to attract students to campus. A Cedar Crest official told WIAReport that the incoming class is one of the largest in the college’s history.