USD Magazine, Spring 1998

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Like the students who attend St. Clare's in Oxford, Emry found that his classroom experience at The Queens University dif– fered from the small, discussion-based courses at USO. In his polit– ical science courses, 50 to 60 students attended a lecture, followed by a weekly tutorial with the professor, where no more than eight students gathered at once. The work Emry valued most, however, was a project he took on independently. Intent on learning firsthand about the troubles in Northern Ireland, the confident student set out to interview people on both sides of the conflict. Emry's goal was to better understand American involvement in the ongoing struggles in Northern Ireland. "I had to be really persistent," he says. "I made it my business to introduce myself to junior party members. Being as objective as possible is what got me the interviews." Emry's laudable motives landed him time with a member of Parliament, Jeffrey Donaldson, and the highly respected former bishop of Derry, Edward Daly, who spoke adamantly against vio– lence throughout his career as clergy in the religiously segregated town of Derry. Emry learned that some of the problems strapping Northern Ireland include economic troubles, and he ultimately focused his research on what the United States can do to spur economic invest– ment in the European country. A 22-page term paper on the subject capped Emry's seven months of research, which he conducted while he was abroad and continued after returning to USO. He wrote the paper to add to the knowledge of USD's political science department. But mostly, Emry says, he wrote it for himself. "This was my experience to make," says Emry, who graduated

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Ill ~1;\I,~- AFTER 25 years of violence surrounding religious and national differences in Northern Ireland, the Irish Republican Army (IRA) called a cease-fire on the final day of August 1994 - the same week USO freshmen gathered on campus for Orientation Week. Jacob McGuire Emry, one of those bright-eyed, first-year students, resolved that day to study abroad in Ireland at some point in his college career. "In high school I had a teacher who was a big influence on me," recalls Emry, who boasts both English and Irish heritage. "We talked about politics and deeply divided societies. He was of Scot– Irish descent and told me a lot about Ireland. When I saw news of the cease-fire on the front page, from that point I knew studying abroad was something I wanted to do." In September 1996, Emry left for Northern Ireland. He independently applied to live and study at The Queens University of Belfast - USO does not have a foreign study program on the Emerald Isle. Emry enlisted the help of Del Dickson, associate professor of political science and his adviser, to determine which courses would transfer into USO credits, and then, perhaps most significant, to convince Emry's parents that sending their son into war-torn Belfast was not as risky as it sounded. Coincidentally, the cease-fire broke down at about the time Emry had to commit to The Queens University. Emry wasn't thwarted. The college attracts visiting students from all over the world, who likewise came to southern Belfast, even after political tensions escalated, eager to learn about a new culture. Emry loved the fact that he was the only American in his residence hall of 300 students. "The whole point is to get out there and learn the culture," he says. "Don't hang around with all the American students. If you're going to leave your university, leave your university and really try to get a world view."

in December and plans to return to The Queens University to study English and European law. "I am not the person I was before I left for Belfast.The study abroad experience opens a world of knowledge that you would have never considered if you stayed at your own university the whole four years."

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