Honors Students have plenty of opportunities to fulfill their dreams and get ahead in their academic and professional endeavors. A study abroad scholarship is just one of the ways that students can achieve their goals.

With financial help from the Honors College, students have traveled the world — from the lush green rural scenery of Bangladesh to tropical, sunny Belize and the culture-rich business hub of Taiwan. This past summer, a few students took advantage of the Honors scholarship opportunities and accomplished truly impressive feats.

Mathematics junior Joyce Hong visited Taiwan to study the economics of the country.

Joyce is Taiwanese American and spent many of her childhood summers in the country. Even though she was born in America, she still identifies as Taiwanese. She said, above all, she enjoys the lifestyle in the country.

Joyce received the Petsche Scholarship for Independent Research Abroad to learn about the trade deficit between Taiwan and the United States. The small island country is ranked tenth in trade for the U.S.

“A [big] part of the trade deficit is just simply more about what the demand is in certain countries and what the consumers are able to afford,” she said.

Initially, her research was going to be focused on the policies and ideas on how to fix this deficit, like what Taiwanese and American companies could do to help each other.

“My conclusion in terms of the trade deficit is that it really isn’t as big of a problem as you would think because, in times of economic downturn, the trade deficit actually decreases in America,” she said.

At that point, she focused more on the economy of Taiwan. She began looking into decreasing birth rates and low marriage rates.

The country’s brain drain is one of the most outstanding issues. There’s a lack of job opportunities for Taiwanese graduates, so many of them resort to moving to China, which has had a tumultuous history with Taiwan.

“I want to investigate more of, and see what I can do personally concerning this issue,” Joyce said.

Because of China’s policies and position as a global power, Taiwan has suffered from international isolation that contributes to the brain drain.

Through her research, Joyce was able to understand the dynamics of the Taiwanese economy on a deeper level.

“I definitely appreciated this opportunity that the Honors College gave me to explore such a relevant topic that holds so much meaning to myself personally,” she said.

Nursing senior Tiffany Kim visited Belize to conduct research with a medical missions team.

Tiffany had been to the coastal Caribbean nation before with guidance from her uncle, a medical practitioner. She also received guidance from UTA professor Dr. Denise Cauble – who has been a mentor to her.

When Tiffany started brainstorming for a project, she envisioned a community-based effort that could benefit families at a clinic where she volunteered.

“It’s about hand hygiene and about how hand hygiene can prevent infection, but more specifically, [people in Belize] have a lot of issues with parasitic worms,” she said. “In years prior, I had seen that this is a big issue.”

While her group helped treat the condition for each family that came to the clinic, the treatment only lasts a few weeks.

What came to her mind was a long-term solution: Education.

“I wanted to see what their baseline is,” she said. “Were they educated on this topic? And did they know? And if they did then maybe a future project can come out of that too. So that was kind of the idea.”

With the Dana Dunn scholarship that she received from the Honors College, she was able to do her part in improving the health of communities in the country.

Tiffany’s medical research team was also featured in a newscast by local media in Belize.

She already has plans to continue her research in coming years.

“I would like to continue, maybe not necessarily with the same topic but with the same topic in mind. I want to help make this worm issue something that over time can be resolved,” she said.

Jay Hinge, economics and math junior, spent a month in the Bangladesh capital of Dhaka.

Prior to his trip, Jay reached out to world-renowned social entrepreneur Mohammed Yunus, who won a Nobel Peace Prize for pioneering the Grameen Bank which translates to “bank for the poor.”

Honors Interim Dean Gustafson created a $1,000 Honors Excellence Fund scholarship to fund his trip.

Jay spent a month traveling to different village centers and spoke to borrowers at the grassroots level and how their lives have changed (or not changed) because of a lack of access to credit facilities.

“I didn’t think it would be this useful, but I met people from all walks of life and people from different countries and cultures,” he said.

He also learned about how low-income borrowers can participate in social entrepreneurship.

Jay was able to compare some of the problems in Bangladesh to those in the U.S. such as the issue of food deserts, where there is a lack of healthy food sources in low-income neighborhoods.

Along with the bank, Yunus also created smaller sister institutions, as they’re known, which work in conjunction with the bank to improve the macroeconomics of the country.

Jay said that the work initiated by Yunus has decreased the birth rate and increased the literacy and sanitation rates in the country.

“I think that added more to my learning, and the value of the discourse that we had was so important to me because that’s where I really gained the knowledge, [as] I was interacting with people from completely different perspectives.”