When Chatham native Lucinda Swanson applied to RU three years ago, she didn’t plan on traveling halfway across the world with the school. She hadn’t even made the hop, skip and jump across Virginia to visit campus until her scholarship interview the spring before she enrolled.

A modest, unassuming Presidential Scholar, Swanson journeyed to China last summer with the Kirk Scholars Program. The Chinese language and cultural study experience offers students a year-long Mandarin language course and the opportunity to put newfound language skills to use during six weeks of travel to Hong Kong, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Hangzhou, Suzhou, Shanghai and Beijing. The program began three years ago with a generous donation from alumnus and businessman R.J. Kirk, who wanted students to understand the culture that he found to be playing an increasingly important role in the world’s economy.

Swanson had always had a fascination with different cultures — her travels abroad before the Kirk program consisted of a cruise to Jamaica, the Cayman Islands and Cozumel — but she didn’t think she would be able to afford to participate in any of RU’s study abroad opportunities. She was thrilled to be chosen as a Kirk Scholar, which allowed her to fulfill her dreams of travel with minimal expenses.

“When I went over there it was nothing like I had imagined,” says the ambitious 20 year old, who has a double major, a double minor, works at two jobs and participates in a fistful of activities to boot. “It was great to see the Chinese culture. It helped me to improve my cultural understanding — I got to meet so many different people and it really broadened my horizons and helped me think in different ways.”

The road is calling Swanson once again. Right now she’s trying to choose between several study abroad opportunities for the upcoming year. Upon graduation next May she’s going to graduate school for international public relations, then hopefully to work for a firm with which she can travel the rest of the world.

— Stephanie Hamill