By
Danielle DiMarzo ‘21

Three Otterbein University graduate students were given the opportunity to share their experience and knowledge on leadership with academic partners in Hungary after receiving the Taylor Horn Scholarship.

The group of graduate students Seth Clark, Patrick Kunke and Megan Mills, left for their trip during the second week in June under the guidance of Otterbein Master of Science in Allied Health (MSAH) Program Director Paul Longenecker. They were abroad for 18 days teaching Hungarian students about leadership and wellness.

The Great Lakes Consortium for International Training Development has worked with faculty from Lourdes and Otterbein Universities, American and Hungarian partners and sponsors to provide the American Summer Institute (ASI). After the success of these institutes, there were requests from Hungarian hosts for continued efforts to conduct ASI gatherings.

The goal of ASI is to enhance global understanding and cultural interactions, expand and develop connections between Hungarian and U.S. partners and share information about Ohio and academic institutions. All of this is in effort to attract more students interested in pursuing studies in the U.S.

The Taylor Horn Scholarship was created by Jane Horn ‘50, an alumna and long-time supporter of Otterbein, who passed away in Aug. 2018. She named the scholarship after her grandson Taylor Horn MSAH ’16. This was the first year the endowed scholarship had funds to disperse. With input from Horn and his parents, it was awarded to the ASI students with funds to offset their travel expenses.

“When I told Taylor about the first scholarships being presented, his response was: ‘Grammie loved to travel and she loved Otterbein. I couldn’t think of a better selection to utilize the scholarship. Please pass along my best wishes to the students,’” said Longenecker.

The group spent more than two weeks of living, eating, sharing thoughts and ideas, life experiences, as well as creating memories with their different Hungarian hosts. Kunke said they all have hobbies and interests, and one challenge they gave them was to take what they presented to them in leadership and wellness and incorporate it into their lives.

All three students developed a presentation to share thoughts and ideas on health, wellness and leadership to the Hungarians participating in the ASI program. They began to realize that to these participants, it was much more than that. They were more interested and invested in the program than expected.

“The whole experience was a great melting pot of different cultures thoughts and ideas,” said Kunke. “It was essentially a job to be done, but in the end eye opening. It was a summer well spent, and an experience I’ll never forget.”