As part of International Education Week 2019, Angel Trachta is one of seven University of Iowa students chosen by a committee of students to be recognized for their leadership and engagement in international education on campus and abroad
Angel Trachta has been an active member of the UI Organization for the Active Support of International Students (OASIS)and has been taking on leadership responsibilities since the spring of 2019. She was elected president of OASIS this academic year (2019-2020) and has made it her goal to make OASIS more inclusive of different perspectives and working styles, as well as being more proactive in working with other groups on campus. Angel has received the Critical Language Scholarship to study abroad in South Korea. She participated in "The First Midwest Korean Speech Contest" and was awarded the Grand Prize spring of 2019 and is representing the U.S. to participate in a speech contest in South Korea in Fall 2019. She has demonstrated her commitment to international education by actively pursuing study abroad experiences as well as participating in a multi-national student organization and working more broadly with different groups on campus.
“Be bold and not afraid to explore the unknown around—you will absolutely not regret it.”
Name: Angel Trachta
Field of study: international studies (East Asia & international business), minors: international relations, Korean studies, communication studies
Hometown: Baldwin, Iowa
What experiences/organizations/programs have you contributed to your international education?
Ewha Womans University study abroad program Fall 2017- Spring 2018
CLS Scholarship recipient for advanced Korean Summer 2019
Iowa City King Sejong Korean Speech Contest, winner, April 2019
Midwest Korean Speech Contest, winner April 2019
King Sejong Institute Worldwide Speech Contest, 2nd place winner (out of 3000 participants), October 2019
Organization for the Active Support of International Students (OASIS), presidential assistant, Fall 2018-Spring 2019
Organization for the Active Support of International Students (OASIS) 2019-2020, president
What is the most valuable thing that you have learned through your international education experiences?
The most valuable asset that I have learned through my international education is that there is a full world outside of Iowa that is ready to be explored. It is quite easy to be caught up in trivial aspects of ones’ life— especially a busy a college student’s life. However, there is something unique that is only through international experience that ones’ conscious can expand and grow.
If you had one message to pass on your fellow classmates about international education, what would it be?
If I had one message to pass on to my fellow classmates about international education, I would emphasize that there is an opportunity out there for everyone whether you have the financial means or not, you’re a different ethnicity or race than the majority, or you are a sexual minority.
Be bold and not afraid to explore the unknown around— you will absolutely not regret it.