Kent State Today will follow a group of six Golden Flashes for the 2024-25 academic year, chronicling their efforts and successes during the fall and spring semesters. The group of students are at various places in their Kent State University academic careers and will share their experiences throughout the year as they take part in our distinctive programs, research and global experiences.
An education-abroad program in Taiwan allowed senior chemistry major Rebecca Stratton to immerse herself in Mandarin, the beauty of a faraway culture and the family ties that bind universally.
Stratton told Kent State Today that the program allowed her to reconnect with a Taiwanese student who spent time with her family in Ravenna many years ago.
Stratton’s education abroad at Tamkang University in New Taipei City, Taiwan, was sponsored by the American Councils for International Education’s Taiwan Intensive and Summer Language Programs (TISLP). The program consisted of 18 to 20 hours of weekly small group and one-on-one language instruction with regular cultural workshops, excursions, interactions with language partners, and a weekend homestay with a local host family to create a truly immersive learning environment.
TISLP is tailored for individuals committed to rapidly improving their Mandarin proficiency. To optimize their immersion experience, students are expected to always speak Mandarin and spend an average of four hours on coursework each night. The program allows participants to advance an average of one full academic year in their language studies at their home universities.
Stratton said she spent 80% of her time speaking solely in Mandarin except for communications with loved ones at home or professional encounters that required English correspondence. She and the other participants did presentations on complex topics such as political systems several times a week.
“It was one of the most difficult things I’ve ever done,” Stratton said. “And at the same time extremely rewarding.”
Before leaving for Taiwan, Stratton spent the summer of 2024 in Kent State’s Summer Undergraduate Research Experience (SURE), in which she participated for the first time when she was still in high school.
She had completed 100 credit hours when she enrolled in Kent State after her 2023 graduation from Ravenna High School. And she has already published two research papers and is working on her bachelor’s and master’s degrees simultaneously.
In the SURE program she worked with mentor Hao Shen, Ph.D., assistant professor in Kent State’s Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry and the Shen Research Group, assisting with his work on DNA as a catalyst.
Stratton hopes to meld her love of natural science and research to her desire to communicate her work to those around her. Becoming bilingual is a necessity she says, because “a communication-focused approach to science is the only way science can be worthwhile.”
“Imagine a world where all of the brightest minds are not encumbered by community,” she said. “There should be more expectations to branch out and learn from others.”