USTL provides full scholarships to outstanding students from Timor-Leste for two to four years of study at high-quality undergraduate degree institutions in the United States. Scholarship awards include full tuition toward either a bachelor’s degree or associate degree, travel, living stipends, medical insurance in the U.S., and visa costs. USTL is a program of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA), U.S. Department of State.

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Marking my last year at this college which I called home for more than 3 years, I thought this might be my last opportunity to get fully involved and immerse myself into knowing more about things that I might be missing or improve what was not perfect. Even though my academic workload is high, it did not stop me from wanting to be actively involved in extracurricular activities such as community service, professional development experiences and other events on campus.
My grades are in ranging between A/B which I consider good for international students like me where English is our third language. As a senior student, the course loads are intense. My senior seminar class, Global Governance required 26 pages of my research paper and that’s not including everyday assignments. Similarly, as Religious studies and Anthropology minor, these classes required almost the same workload. It is a constant battle between you and your time management. Therefore, it is important to have self-discipline.
My first extracurricular activities were volunteering at Saint Michael’s College Organic Garden (SMCOG). We sign up a form that MOVE’s (movement of volunteer effort) office provided and after receiving confirmation emails, we are all gathered at the MOVE office on Friday afternoon and proceeded to SMCOG garden. This garden was established in the summer of 2008 thanks to a group of students who recognized the importance of having space for the campus community to practice the art of organic gardening. You can find the link to our garden here:
https://www.youtube.com/embed/TbtnadaOCI8?rel=0&autoplay=1

My second extracurricular activities were organizing events on campus. As an event coordinator and International ambassador for the GEAR program at Saint Michael’s College, part of my job is to create an environment in which international students and American students can interact and learn from each other. Taste of the world is one of the many events that I founded when I first arrived on campus. This event has now become a yearly Cashman (international housing) event. In this event, international students team up with American students from Sociology of food class helping each other to cook food of the international student’s country. This event happened every beginning of September and this year happened to be on September, Friday the 21st. this event draws a lot of attention because of the uniqueness of the culinary choices that you rarely find in everyday campus dining.
The third extracurricular activity that I took part of was representing two countries; Timor-Leste and Barbados at the inauguration of Dr. D.E. Lorraine Sterritt as the seventeenth president of Saint Michael’s College September 22, 2018. Dr. Sterritt marked history as the first women President since Saint Michael’s college founded in 1904. This two-hour long event is one of the most important events for Saint Michael’s College.
Last but not least is my involvement in Model UN as a student representative also representing the countries of Brazil and Indonesia. We learn how to do debates, and present our resolution to solve countries conflict. It was fun and at the same time challenging. As an international relations major, it is important to practice my communication skills. Through Model UN, I was able to improve my communication skills.

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