Hatter getting ready for a semester at sea

By Mo Cranker on August 13, 2018.

mcranker@medicinehatnews.com @MHNmocranker

A University of Lethbridge student from Medicine Hat is getting ready to spend a semester abroad — just not in the most conventional way.

Hatter Mackenzie Salmon is going into her fourth year at the U of L and is working towards her bachelor of science in kinesiology and is hoping to get into dentistry within the next few years.

Instead of going back to the Lethbridge campus to complete the first semester of her final year, she’ll be loading up on a cruise ship and travelling to 11 countries in four months as part of the Semester at Sea program.

“I hadn’t really heard about Semester at Sea until my soccer coach mentioned it to me one day,” said Salmon. “It’s basically a cruise ship that has classes on it and it takes you all around the world.

“It’s 110 days total and we’re going to 11 different countries. We start in Germany on Sept. 9 and end on Dec. 23 in California.”

Salmon will be taking four different courses on the ship and will share the boat with about 500 other students. She says she is looking forward to exploring a number of the countries.

“When we dock there’s a lot of things we’ll have the chance to do,” she said. “There’s a lot of exploring to do and there’s a number of programs that we have the opportunity to sign up for.”

To help make the experience happen, Salmon applied for and was awarded a $30,000 scholarship.

“A couple in Lethbridge donated $30,000 to be this scholarship and I wrote some essays and was eventually selected as the recipient — it’s called the Brawn Family Foundation Semester at Sea Scholarship,” she said. “The scholarship covers everything, which is amazing for me — the only thing I will be paying for is the in-country travel and programs that I’ll be doing in the different countries.”

Salmon says the classes will function like normal post-secondary classes, each containing essays, mid-terms and final exams. Salmon says she has always had the travel bug and saw this as an opportunity to continue doing what she loves.

“I’ve always loved to travel and just got back from backpacking in Central America,” she said. “Every summer I go to Honduras to do a medical mission, so I just figured travelling and taking classes at the same time made perfect sense.”

Salmon says most of the countries will be new experiences for her and that she is looking forward to every one of them.

“I’ve signed up for a lot of programs, so I’m really excited to get on the ship and started.”

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