By Maddy Cooper
“It was honestly life changing.”
Seeing the world is a dream shared among many Delta High School students.
Some students have had the opportunity to travel abroad before their lives outside of high school. Others are waiting for their chance.
These three DHS seniors are already planning their study abroad journeys in college.
Mackemzie Lipps, the speaker of the quote above, has been lucky enough to visit four European countries while in high school and is ready for her ability to study abroad.
During the summer of 2023, Lipps was an Indiana Ambassador of Music through a program she was nominated for by choir director Ms. Lane Camp.
She visited and performed in London, England, Paris, France, the Alps in Switzerland and Vienna, Austria.
“I’m interested in studying abroad because I love traveling and want to see as much of the world as I can,” she says.
In college, she plans to either spend a semester abroad in Amsterdam, Netherlands, or do the Semester At Sea program.
SAS is a four-month program through Colorado State University where voyagers travel the world on a ship while taking college classes.
Lipps will attend Purdue University’s Honors College in West Lafayette, Ind., for brain and behavioral sciences on a pre-med track.
Because she has travelled abroad before, she says that she is even more excited to study abroad. Her goal is to see as much of the world as possible, and that will start with planning her next experience abroad.
Unlike Lipps, senior James Root’s study abroad experience will be more difficult to plan.
Root, a future aviation flight science major at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, Mich., will have to work out how to continue his flight training while travelling.
“I will likely not be able to take a whole semester abroad since I still need to be at home to be able to fly, and there’s only so much bookwork you can do away from the plane,” he says.
Root says only going abroad for a couple of weeks will be more manageable.
He hopes to study abroad in London, England which he has visited once before.
He says that there is nothing like travelling and seeing new places.
“There will always be more traditions, cultures, practices, and regions of people than we realize, and it’s so awesome to be able to take an already exciting time in your life and spend part of it in an area with a different culture,” Root says.
Unlike the other two, senior Zach Baty has not traveled abroad yet.
Baty, who will be studying neuroscience and pre-med at Wabash College in Crawfordsville, Ind., while also swimming, already has his study abroad experience planned out.
He plans to go on a research trip to either Lima or Huánuco, Peru during the summer of 2026.
During this trip, Baty will participate in public health education workshops within communities in Peru. He will work in global health initiatives and research connected to his major at Wabash.
He is looking forward to this trip for many reasons.
“I will be able to get hands-on experience in the global health field, and I will be able to help a lot of people in Peru,” Baty says.
He is also excited to travel and sight-see while in Peru.
After his trip to Peru, he plans to continue to travel after medical school and hopefully go on more research trips abroad.
The more these seniors travel, the more experiences of the real world they will have. These three have big plans for their futures and studying abroad is only a small part of it.
