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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Mid-term academic progression

Posted on: 10 October 2017 BY: SSagran

My favorite things about Tennessee Technological University is that everybody are kind and friendly; either students or workers always smile to each other, opens door for one another and wish one another a good day every time given a chance. Being a part of the campus community has a sense of being a part of a caring family. Out of seven of my classes, I enjoy Introduction to Environmental Studies (ESS-1100-001) class the most because there are two classes in a week, one is for passive and the other is for active learning. One day of the week we got to listen to lectures from the professor and learn new terms however the other day of the week we use the knowledge we received to discuss past or current issues in the world regarding the environment and find possible solutions to those issues as a class. Every student is always given a chance to make their own opinions, which makes the class the most interesting one to attend. Whereas most of the classes are passive learning where the students are given lectures and are only required to listen and take notes. The most interesting thing I have learned in class so far is from the ESS-1100-001 class on how much an exotic species – introduced species in a new geographical location due to human interference – can affect the economic, societal and geological factors of a place. Such as the Brown Tree snakes that was introduced to Guam in the late 1940s caused significant decrease of numerous species of birds and native pollinators. On the economic side, it cost Guam on snakebite medical treatments and power outages as well as decrease of tourism, which disadvantaged the local community whose income come from tourists. It was fascinating to see that all those devastating problems are caused by a species introduced in a given area yet is still not the main focus of issues in the society today, which makes me become more passionate on achieving my future career based on the major I am studying. Courses have not been too difficult so far but transferring from high school to college life has its own challenges. College requires many hours of study, about 3 hours of study per credit hour, which is not a problem however balancing study with club meetings, self maintenance, and other school events to be involved in the campus community has cause some fluctuation in my studying efficiency thus lead to some unsatisfactory grades. I am slowly learning to adjust on my new life and manage my time effectively by using my planner regularly, note down important dates and prioritize. I have attended two club meetings, which are closely related to my major, they are Water Professionals which discussed about water plantation management in Cookeville and Evergreen Society which discussed about a couple of upcoming events that we are required to attend. I have also attended a dinner for the Explorative Academy for Global and Local Engagement (EAGLE) program where I had the chance to get to know other participants, did some activities to learn and teach about each other’s culture and discuss the main aim of the program, which is to connect the International students with the locals through community and services and American students through social interaction activities such camping.

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