For many University of Mississippi students, summer is a time to travel, expand knowledge in their area of study or participate in a seasonal program. Rising senior Holly Davidson is doing all three this summer — at times, simultaneously.
Davidson is a Ridgeland, Miss., native studying elementary education through the Mississippi Excellence in Teaching Program. As part of the program, METP scholars agree to teach in the Mississippi public school system for five years following graduation.
Still, METP encourages its students to look beyond Mississippi for educational inspiration. The program provides students the opportunity to observe school systems in other parts of the world. This usually occurs during the summer following an METP student’s junior year. This year, the travel destination was Scandinavian countries including Finland, Sweden and Denmark.
As for how they landed on these locations, Davidson revealed that it was largely random.
“At the beginning of our junior year, we got to list out some countries. They all had to be countries that we knew had a good education system, and they couldn’t be countries where we’d ever be put in an unsafe environment,” Davidson said. “We all got to put some country names in a basket, and then from there it was planned out.”
By spring semester, the travel destinations had been decided, and the students were instructed on the countries in their METP-oriented class.
“In January, we started learning about Finland, Sweden and Denmark through a book, and we were assigned to read chapters every week. We would learn about the education system and we would learn about their living situation, just so we weren’t thrown into a different country and didn’t know certain things about it,” Davidson said.
Davidson shared a few important notes from the educational opportunity that she found particularly fascinating.
“By fifth grade, students (from these countries) could have learned up to four different languages — those being English, Swedish, Finnish and German. Their students are a lot more immersed in different cultures than you would typically find in the United States schools, just because they are learning different languages at such a young age,” Davidson said.
Davidson found a particular high school setup in Sweden, where the format looks notably different from what is seen at an average public high school in the United States, especially interesting. Davidson departed for Scandinavia when – the beginning of the story talks generally about summer programs – and how long was she there?
“When we were in Sweden, we actually visited a high school there, and their high school is set up more like a university that you would find here in the states, like Ole Miss,” Davidson said. “Their students are entrusted with going to their classes, but they don’t have to stay on campus throughout the day. They can go off and get lunch, they can go home, then they can come back for their classes.”
Davidson benefitted from the trip both professionally and personally. Professionally, she feels like she knows more about the different aspects and takes on education in foreign locations. Personally, she feels she has grown by learning about different cultures and how they operate.
Davidson revealed that her favorite part of the experience was being able to meet and establish relationships with people in her cohort.
“I’ve never hung out with them outside of METP a lot just because we all have different class schedules,” Davidson said. “(On this trip) I was able to hang out with people that I typically wouldn’t hang out with outside of class. I was able to learn more about the people in my cohort before we all go into our senior year.”
Once Davidson returned to the states, she started her summer job with the pre-college program Rebel Quest.
“Monday through Friday, I’m with little kids. We’re running around the Grove, they’re doing different STEM projects and every week they have a different content area that they’re focusing on,” Davidson said. “This week, specifically, they’re focusing on archaeology, so we’ve been doing mini excavating projects.”
When the program wraps up for the summer, Davidson has her eyes set on her senior year endeavors. She plans to focus on maintaining a 4.0 grade point average and joining more organizations that she has not been able to before.
Davidson reflected on her college experience with a symbolic look back on a blossoming friendship with fellow METP student, Nya Thompson. She is thankful to METP for providing the opportunity for the friendship to expand into something she never could have imagined.
“Coming into the METP program, I did come here with someone from high school and we were cordial, but I wouldn’t say we were the best of friends,” Davidson said. “But I think METP honestly brought us closer together. We’re talking all the time, spent a full day in Denmark together and I think that it just shows how coming to college with people and being in the same program ended up making us really good friends.”
She further confirmed her admiration for METP by discussing how it has been a blessing in her life.
“You have the ability to be in a scholarship where you’re not only going to inevitably give back to the community of Mississippi and the school districts of Mississippi, but you’re also going to experience early on in the classroom if it is something that you want to end up doing,” Davidson said. “I would say that METP is one of the biggest blessings that I’ve had in college.”
