When Veronica Stoltz was a student at BYU, she didn’t think she was a likely candidate for a study abroad—she grew up in a single-parent home where money was tight, so she had few opportunities to travel. Despite her challenges, she decided to apply for a program, and her experience abroad sparked a passion for travel and learning that she now channels as the international program coordinator at the BYU Marriott School of Business Whitmore Global Business Center (GBC).
“At the GBC we try to create an environment and a means for students to make the sign on the corner of campus that says ‘Brigham Young University: The world is our campus’ a reality,” says Stoltz, who works with students to facilitate international learning experiences, including study abroad programs, exchange opportunities, internships, and full-time job placement.
While the GBC helps students find cultural enrichment abroad, they also provide opportunities to learn about other cultures without needing an airline ticket. Stoltz recently helped organize an Indian New Year celebration in the Tanner Building, where students munched on naan bread and had temporary henna designs painted on their hands. Cultural events can give students a taste of what they can find abroad, she says. “Maybe it helps prompt them into thinking, ‘I want to try something that takes me out of Provo, out of my comfort zone, and puts me somewhere where I have to learn firsthand.’”
Alongside organizing events, Stoltz says that she loves to work with students one-on-one. “That’s where the magic happens,” she says, “connecting the right individual with the right opportunity at the right time.”
Stoltz explains that some students may self-disqualify themselves from having an international experience for various reasons, from worrying about finances to being married. While those challenges can make an international experience seem difficult, Stoltz says students shouldn’t close the door prematurely on the possibility.
“There are ways to have a global experience, whatever station of life you’re in,” Stoltz says. “We want to help students who might not see themselves as being a contributor on the world stage cultivate the skills and vision that create that possibility in their lives and careers.”
One opportunity that Stoltz connects students with is the GBC’s student exchange program. Through this program, students spend a full semester at a partner school in participating countries, including Peru, France, and Germany. Unlike study abroad programs with prepared itineraries and travel groups, an exchange program immerses students with local and international students at a business school they choose. This allows students to control their own expenses, set their own agendas, and select their own classes.
In addition to working with students before their international experiences, Stoltz conducts exit interviews with students when they return to campus. “I hear such gratitude from the students about taking that leap,” Stoltz says. “They’re always so happy they did it.”
Stoltz herself is grateful that she took the leap as a student and applied to a study abroad, which ended up taking her to the BYU Jerusalem Center for Near Eastern Studies. This wasn’t the only international experience she had during her time at BYU, as she later participated in a second study abroad at the BYU London Centre and served a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Russia.
“All of these international experiences cemented in my heart and mind the significance of exposing yourself to cultural differences, language differences, and opportunities to love our brothers and sisters across the globe,” Stoltz says. “It’s something that’s enhanced who I am and how I’m able to view things. I learn continually because I’ve been able to understand the world in a bigger, more profound way through travel.”
But for Stoltz, international travel is more than just personal enrichment—it can be a way to improve the world. At BYU in particular, she says, this potential is enhanced by the number of languages spoken on campus.
“BYU students are primed for global experiences,” Stoltz says. “There are such wonderful ways to take language skills that have been developed in a classroom or through a mission or other language training and contribute them to enhance businesses around the globe.”
Stoltz believes that through the GBC, students can maximize their language skills and potential to have a global impact. “That’s what our team tries to do,” Stoltz says, “take all the wealth of experience around us and channel it into opportunities that will help students make the world a better place.”