Study USA (2014-2015)

Karen Wray

Rocky Mountain College, Montana

Sequence of Presentation

The beginning

Orientation and Starting my new chapter at RMC

Classes & Achievements through them

My Rocky Mountain College Life

ASRMC- being Vice President

Debate Team (adventures and honours)

Enactus Team (adventures and honours)

Choir (music re-entered my soul)

The Summit - Writing for the school newspaper

Billings & Montana area adventures

Travelling America – one state at a time

The beginning…

My year began on August 18th 2014 when I flew out with three other Study

USA girls, Mary, Lea and Carrie.

My route was Dublin > Atlanta > Minnesota > Billings (Montana)

This was the start of the best year of my life and an amazing adventure!

Orientation – Dinner, First Day & Camp

We went to Beartooth Christian Camp and completed team work activities and bonding sessions, we also

canoed, rock climbed, zip lined, paint balled, swing danced, water trampoline-d and had campfires.

More of Beartooth Camp, MT

My Awesome Room Mate – Paige

Paige is

definitely

a Best

Friend for

life! I

know I

will see

her again soon

Classes

GPA 3.89

Student Involvement

Semester 2 –GPA 3.79

Semester 1 –GPA 4.0

Cla

sse

s Se

me

ste

r O

ne • Business Law

• Entrepreneurship 1

• Retailing

• Human Resources Management

• Negotiation

• DebateC

lass

es

Se

me

ste

r Tw

o • Management

• Marketing

• Small Business Operations

• Entrepreneurship 2

• Enactus

• Debate

• Choir

• Skiing

I met RMC President – Dr Bob Willmouth

Big Sky Economic Development Authority -

Entrepreneurship

This was a group

in Billings, that

help start up

businesses. They

came into class

often and we

went to numerous

events. Such as

their 25th

Anniversary

Dinner &

Seminars. Also we

competed in

Start Up weekend

as a class and

came 2nd Overall!

JK Cupcakes – See Facebook

One of my classes,

Entrepreneurship Two required us to

start our own small business, Jessica

and myself started a very

successful cupcake business called

JK Cupcakes! The point of the

exercise is to gain skill in dealing

with customers, stock, finances,

reviews, standards, teamwork and

actually creating product.

More Career Enhancement & Studying

Snap Chats could probably tell my Rocky Story!

• For class I had to do a bank interview to

present my business plan.

• I had tests twice a week every week

• I was in contact with a major law firm –

Crowley and Flack

• I went to KPMG’s Open days

• I studied a lot in the Library with friends

I became a Battlin’ Bear

RMC American

Football season

started. This was

Rocky v Carrol

2014

ASRMC – Student Government – Vice President

I was nominated and voted in to

ASRMC as Minority Senator in

September 2014, throughout the year I

sat on the Student Relations

committee who organised and hosted

three very successful events such as

Rocky’s got Talent, Halloween

Extravaganza and ASRMC Scavenger

Hunt. On Senate we made a lot of

major decisions. In November 2014 I

was nominated, ran against four

others and was unanimously voted in

as Vice President. This was an honour

as it allowed me to give back to RMC

for the amazing scholarship that they

awarded me with!

The Student Leadership Dinner 2015

– I went as Vice President of ASRMC

Student Relations Committee 2014

I joined Debate Team – My first tournament at RMC

Debate improved

my presentation

skill, my

confidence and

structure in essays

My second Tournament – Calgary (Canada)

This was a tournament for new debators, it was nerve racking, but it was a lot of fun and great

experience for our group. It was a bonding experience as we travelled 10 hours each way in a Rocky

Van! – I was told by another Debate coach, that I had improved significantly from the Rocky debate

Third debate tournament – Denver, Colorado

The entire team went to this debate,

it was a great time and we

advanced more and more as a team

in competition and as a group. And

hey, it was another 8 hour car

journey for debate family bonding

time!

The Finale – New York City

The Kings College Debate

was the highlight of my

debate career. I also met

up with Ashlyn (SUSA) and

got to sight see with the

team in NYC!

• Billings > Denver > NYC

Tribal College Teaching – Crow Agency, MT

Our team went out and taught Debate to American Indian students in Little Big Horn College

It was great fun, and I got to teach one class first semester and in second semester I was in charge of

material covered and I taught all classes!

The Bye Bye Debate BBQ & More Pics

• Above was the last good bye photo of the team for

2014-2015, I will definitely miss this lot!

• It was great that I had my two best friends on the team

with me, Flávya (Brazilian) and Susan (Dutch)

• Throughout the year we organised Trivia nights and

worked on concession stands to afford group trips

• I was also Student Relations Commissioner for the Team

EnactusEnactus is a worldwide

business organization who

use entrepreneurial skill and

knowledge to help others,

at RMC I took part in 5

projects (details in PDP)

1. Workforce women

2. SuitUP!

3. Pamba Toto

4. RockSlam

5. Broken Glasss to Working

Class

ST LOUIS NATIONAL CONFERENCE 2015

I represented

MT, RMC & NI

with the flag!

We won $5000,

2 trophies & a

plaque. And

Made it into

quarter finals!

Saying Bye to the Team – BBQ 2015

The total hours I put into this

organization was 210 HOURS in one Semester

I loved working with this team and I

will look for a team like this in

Northern Ireland and try and

compete in Enactus UK

I recaptured my musical ability – I joined Choir & Started playing Violin again

The Summit – I wrote for the school paper

Throughout the year I wrote six article for the paper, three are

demonstrated above. I have never written for a paper before, so

to begin the challenge was converting my UK English vocabulary

into American English vocabulary. There were two editors who I

worked closely with, Teresa and Jenny, throughout my time, I

progressed as a writer and improved working for the paper

ultimately developed my writing style, structure and grammar.

I watched my first Baseball match with new friends

Our first solo camping trip – Columbus, MT

Swimming in the famous

Yellowstone River

Road Trips – first one to Cody, Wyoming

Road Trip – Red Rocks Amphitheatre & Boulder, Colorado

Halloween – Ski Team Party & Cabin Party

Cabin Parties were a huge Montana thing, I got invited to the Ski

Team Halloween party and also many others trough out the

year… so glad to be 21 in the USA!

Thanksgiving – Family Reunion

SUSA enabled me to be reunited for thanksgiving with my great aunt in Kalispell, MT. It was a 12 road trip in

traitorous snow, but I finally made it, 8 years from the last time we seen each other. Audrey made a 16lb turkey for two! It was also nice to let Audrey see her kids and grandkids with the help of

modern technology

When you go visit family, it makes you miss the people at

home a bit more, but you skype then get back to normal

My Mummy met

my Roommate

Paige.

As you can see

some of my 6

Labradors got

involved.

Also when my

care package

did not arrive,

my Daddy liked

to tease me

with Cadbury

chocolate…

Christmas at Rocky

Christmas was bittersweet, as one of my

best friends Molly was leaving for Sweden the next semester

Also I decided to go home for Christmas,

so I booked my flight & surprised

everyone, only my dad knew!

Flying home for Christmas!

Dad and I arrived at Mum’s School and the

receptionist phoned her to come and sign for the

‘package’ that had arrived… she came up and

cried. Also when I got home my dog cried for 20

minutes too!

New Years Day 2015 – Vancouver

Susan’s

Birthday on

NYE, so I

went to

Vancouver!

The 22 hour

journey back

to Billings, MT

by car. We

went via

Seattle and

Spokane. We

also

watched the

New years

day Annual

Polar Bear

Swim

We don’t

travel light,

so we can’t

book a

flight… skier

problems!

Dublin > France > Salt

Lake City > Seattle >

Portland > Vancouver

50 Hours of Travelling!

International Peace Studies at RMC

Cindy Kunz, Head of Peace Studies, opened her home to all the international students, above and around are some

pictures of when we went to cook at her house. Cindy also asked me to speak at the Annual Women's Conference about NI, The Troubles & our Passage to peace. I accepted the challenge and presented it in January to a room of 30 women. My talk lasted 30 minutes and it went well. It was difficult to discuss, however I feel I presented it representing both sides of

opinions. Throughout the year, we attended all

peace study events.

RedLodge Ski Races

Winners - RMC

I had a lot of friends on the Ski

Team so I felt that I should go

support Rocky at RedLodge, MT!

…of course we had some celebrations in Snow Creek too

Ski Class … Learning how to be a pro!

I did learn how to ski on the ski weekend, I made lots

of new friends, had lots of fun

and …. I tore my MCL!

Spring Break – Kalispell, MT & Fernie, Canada

I went again to Kalispell, aka my second home! It was so much fun getting to see

my Great Aunt Audrey again. My second Cousin, Lynn also flew in from Philadelphia.

We had a great time and we went to Glacier National Park, to snow shoe. We

also went to Fernie, Canada. I got Poutine, aka Chips & Gravy with cheese! It

definitely is a home comfort. Also I made some Irish Breakfasts and Pavlova.

Business Department Day Out - I learned how to

Golf (I also had a South African Pro Teach me)

Yet another

invaluable skill

for Northern

Ireland, I hear it

is a great way

to make

business deals

on the golf

course!

Easter – with my American Family

The first words this family said to me

were “Hey, our names are Dale and

Katie, but you can call us Mom and

Dad” – Sweetest people in the world!

I’m now a true Montana Woman! I’ve Branded cows, eaten a Rocky Mountain Oyster (cooked calf balls), Rode a Bull, Rode a Horse,

been to the Rodeo (twice), been to a cow fair, and moved hay and hiked!

We begun a road trip on May 4th 2015

Stop One – Yellowstone National Park

• On day one we visited Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming, this is something

we wanted to do all year!

• We got to see all of the wildlife and we seen Old Faithful along with all of the rest

of the park.

• This was however just as stopping point before we went to collect Lena in Salt

Lake city, Utah.

• Day One: Montana > Wyoming > Idaho > Utah

Stop Two – Salt Lake City

This was mainly to collect Lena (Holland) and then continue

onwards. We had a lot of fun in Salt Lake City and we even did

some geocaching!

Stop Three – The Grand Canyon, Arizona

This was like a painting when you looked at

it, I have never seen a more amazing site in

all my life. This was most definitely a dream

come true for me.

We hiked down part of the Grand Canyon,

we did want to camp in it, however all the

sites were sold out. So we stayed in Flagstaff

and had a fantastic time for a few days.

Stop Four - Phoenix, Arizona

We stopped here to do some hiking, some tourist sight seeing and to

see this beautiful city. Again we did more geocatching and we

relaxed a lot by the pool side

Stop Five – Las Vegas, Nevada

This was an

amazing

experience

, I was so

glad to be

22!

Two of our Rocky friends, Tyree and Sian showed us round their

hometown. As you can see we had lots of fun. We had VIP & free entry

into Omani Nightclub (Cesar's Palace) and VIP, a $1000 table and free

entry into Marquee Rooftop Nightclub in The Cosmopolitan. In the

daytime we tried to get some tan at our beautiful pool in the Hardrock

Hotel and sightseeing in Vegas.

My friend Eimhear flew in from NI to join & the boys went back home to

Sweden.

Stop Six – San Diego We picked up Flávya (Brazil) from LAX

and travelled down to San Diego

It RAINED! – Eimhear brought it in her

suitcase…

We visited both old and new town SD.

We had fun though, we stayed in a

Hostel and met people from all

around the world. And… I got to go to

the world famous San Diego Zoo.

Stop Seven – Los Angeles

– Venice Beach

& Santa Monica

Our apartment was amazing & had a

hot tub and BBQ, so we partied. We

went for cycles and runs on the pier

and We also learnt how to surf!

Stop Eight

- Hollywood

This again was an

awesome day, we got to see lots of

Stars on the Walk of

Fame, we got to do

some shopping and

most of all we got to

see the Hollywood

Sign as well as the

observatory. Sadly it was Flávya’s Last

Day with the group

so we left her back

to LAX

Stop Nine – Santa Barbara

• Santa Barbara was a beautiful costal city. It was a lot more relaxed than the other areas around it that

we had been staying in previously. This was our last few days of the road trip, so we needed to make

the most of it and continue to get a better tan and see more of California.

• Santa Barbara was more expensive, but the town was very quaint and old.

• As you can see our car was still looking perfect at the end of the trip.

• This rental car was so smooth and fun to drive, and it was 100% an American Muscle car! I loved it!

Stop Ten - Malibu

This was my last chance to say bye

with my best friend from throughout

the year at Rocky, Susan.

It was such a strange day as I had the

feeling, when will we ever see each

other again!

That has to be the hardest part about

Study USA, leaving your friends and

loved ones behind, with an uncertainty of a future.

Stop Eleven – Reno, Nevada

I stayed with my family

in Reno. I haven’t seen

them in 11 years, so it

was so much fun seeing

how much my two little

cousins had grown up.

We had lots of fun, we

did a 180ft sky drop at

the GSR, we had Irish

Night, hence the stew. I

watched Robert do his

first Cello Solo and I

watched Ryan score a

soccer goal. We also

met some awesome

people who we did

come dine with me, with

Stop Twelve

– Virginia City

Another cousin and her husband

came down from San Jose to see me.

We all had fun doing the old-

fashioned family photograph whilst in

Virginia. This is what the end of Study

USA has to be for, reuniting families

and having fun exploring the USA.

Stop Thirteen

– Lake Tahoe

Stop Fourteen

– Pyramid Lake

It was fun getting to go swim in Tahoe

(which is actually a Volcano, that

borders both California and Nevada)

and also trying to fish as Pyramid Lake

(Wadsworth, Nevada).

Interning whilst in Reno…

With Washoe County Government - HR

I wanted some more experience within the

business field. This was an excellent

opportunity that arose and whilst in Reno, I

interned/work shadowed with the Human

Resources Department. This department is

actually over eight different sectors. I got to

get some great insight for my final essay for

UUJ. However the real goal of this was to

learn more about HR, an area which I

discovered I enjoyed whilst studying it at

Rocky Mountain College. I sat in on some

meetings, listened to HR problems,

analysed some applications and prepared

for interview prepping. On my first day I

even had the chance to look in on a

Capitol meeting.

Stop Fifteen – Philadelphia

I am currently staying with

my Cousin Lynn in

Langhorne, PA. Getting to

see the Birthplace of

America really is the icing

on the cake for my year in

the USA!

Home has followed and supported me along

the way, throughout the best year of my life!

Travel wise… I’m not done!

To date, I have travelled 34% of America. I am still

to travel to Washington DC and New Jersey.

When happens I will have travelled to 40% of the

states in the USA. I hope to come back and cover

even more in the future.

I am finally travelling home on June 11th 2015 and

I will return to work as a trainee accountant on

June 15th at Hassard McClements Ltd in Co

Fermanagh for the summer.

Any questions or comments, contact me at wray.karen@hotmail.com or on 07527398661