Michelle Pineda, Cañada College alumni, first studied abroad in Spring 2018 with SMCCCD Study Abroad through the Northern California Study Abroad Consortium (NCSAC) program in Florence, Italy. After three months in Italy, she began planning how she would return abroad for a Global Internship. In Summer 2019, after much planning and saving, Michelle went abroad again, this time to Madrid, Spain, with the SMCCCD Global Internship Program, where she interned for two months with Be Madrid, an exchange student community and travel agency. She has since transferred to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, where she is studying Communication Studies.
Michelle was a recipient of three study abroad scholarships, including the prestigious Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship. Her message to any student who identifies as coming from a low-income household, or who is a first-generation college student, is “there is opportunity out there…don’t limit yourself.”
Check out Michelle’s story here.
SMCCCD Study Abroad is the district-wide study abroad program housed in the Global Learning Programs and Services Division at Skyline College. For more information about studying or interning abroad, faculty teach abroad opportunities, community travel for lifelong learners, visiting international faculty presenters and student scholarship opportunities, please contact Zaid Ghori at ghoriz@smccd.edu or (650) 738-7088 or Stephanie Wells at wellss@smccd.edu. You can also learn more by visiting the SMCCD Study Abroad Facebook page or Instagram page @smcccd_study_abroad.
Article by Stephanie Wells
