On Tuesday, April 29, 2025, seven University of Iowa (UI) students shared how the Student Impact Grant opened doors to experiential learning opportunities during the winter and spring semesters. Supported by alumni and friends, the grant provides students with access to experiences that might otherwise be financially inaccessible.
This year, four recipients used their grants to travel abroad to destinations including Australia, Greece, Ecuador, and the Dominican Republic. Three of those students — Eltayeb Ahmed, Natalie Kehrli, and Isabella Rivera — presented their experiences and shared how the grant gave them opportunities to grow outside the classroom.
Eltayeb Ahmed, a senior studying finance and risk management & insurance, spent the winter semester in Australia as part of the International Business in Sydney program. The experience challenged his assumptions about what professionalism means in different parts of the world.
“In the U.S., there’s often a strong focus on hierarchy and formality in business settings,” Ahmed said. “But in Australia, we found a very different environment. It only reinforced the idea that professionalism isn't one-size-fits-all.”
For Ahmed, this realization was just one part of a broader, immersive experience in Australia.
“This wasn't just a vacation or a sightseeing trip,” shared Ahmed. “It was an academic experience that combined business education, cultural exposure and personal growth all in one of the most unique and exciting places I've ever been.”
Similarly, Natalie Kehrli, a senior studying psychology, used the grant to participate in the UI faculty-led Women’s Empowerment in the Dominican Republic program. Immersed in work focused on women’s and children’s issues, she reflected deeply on cultural differences and the broadening of her worldview.
“It made me realize how incredibly large the world is,” Kehrli said. “Growing up in America, it can be really easy to laser focus on what we know from the day to day, but being in the Dominican really opened that purview for me. When we travel and we go outside of the country, we see just how many people there are around us.”
Isabella Rivera, a senior studying world language education and Spanish with an endorsement to teach English as a second language, used her grant to support her student teaching experience in Quito, Ecuador. After starting the semester in the U.S., she transitioned to teaching English at Colegio Ecuatoriano Español América Latina, a K–12 school in Ecuador.
“It is just so much fun being able to interact with these students in a really informal but rewarding context,” Rivera said. “You don’t have as many constraints as you do in, say, typical classrooms.”
Being in Ecuador made her realize just how much she had internalized the norms of U.S. schools, even without meaning to.
“There’s a level of rigidity in the U.S. system that I didn’t expect to notice until I came here,” Rivera said. “I actually enjoy when students have more initiative and autonomy in the classroom.”
Though their destinations and disciplines varied, all three students returned with a deeper understanding of other cultures. Each credited the Student Impact Grant for shaping their futures and changing how they see the world.
For Rivera, the grant gave her the opportunity to have a teaching experience that was both flexible and rewarding. More than that, it offered her valuable insight into how different education systems operate and how those differences can promote growth.
“Overall, this amazing grant has given me so much insight into international approaches to education that I really would not have been able to access otherwise,” Rivera said.
Kehrli, too, found the experience transformative — not just academically, but personally.
“It offered me a new perspective on the life experiences and the psychological experiences that people are having in different cultures,” Kehrli said. “It definitely got me more connected into global issues.”
Ahmed emphasized not only the academic value of his experience but the lasting personal impact it had on him.
“It allowed me to experience education in a completely new way and helped me check off important academic milestones toward my degree,” Ahmed shared. “But more than that, it gave me perspective, confidence, and memories I’ll carry long after graduation. To the donors, faculty, and everyone who supports these grants, thank you. Your support doesn’t just fund travel. It opens doors, expands horizons, and prepares students like me for the future.”
Learn more about study abroad funding opportunities
International Programs (IP) at the University of Iowa (UI) is committed to enriching the global experience of UI students, faculty, staff, and the general public by leading efforts to promote internationally oriented teaching, research, creative work, and community engagement. IP provides support for international students and scholars, administers scholarships and assistance for students who study, intern, or do research abroad, and provides funding opportunities and grant-writing assistance for faculty engaged in international research. IP shares their stories through various media, and by hosting multiple public engagement activities each year.