Two Clarkson University Honors students recently embarked on similar journeys across Europe, where firsthand encounters with global business, emerging technologies and new cultures challenged their perspectives and opened new possibilities for their futures.
With support from Honors Educational Enhancement Scholarships (HEES), seniors Ethan Flamand and Lindsay McCarthy traveled last spring to Germany, the Czech Republic and Iceland through Clarkson’s Global Business Program, a 14-day immersive experience offering exposure to international business and culture.
Centered on the theme “Innovation Across Europe,” the trip took students beyond the classroom to explore how businesses and organizations are approaching emerging technologies, sustainability and global challenges. Through company visits, conversations with industry professionals and Clarkson alumni, and cultural and historical experiences, students gained firsthand perspectives on international business while exploring the people, places and ideas shaping their own academic, professional and personal interests.
Confidence Through Experience
For Lindsay, an Aerospace Engineering student at Clarkson, her experience abroad offered new perspectives on both her future career and her own ability to navigate new situations.
During a business visit in Germany, Lindsay met a Clarkson alumnus who left Google in the United States to join Pergolux, a smaller startup. His experience sparked a conversation about choosing between the stability of a large company and the opportunity to have a greater individual impact at a smaller organization. Lindsay says the discussion has her thinking differently about what she wants from her own career.
The experience also challenged Lindsay in a more personal and unexpected way. With severe allergies to mustard seed and tree nuts, navigating unfamiliar foods and language barriers required her careful planning and self-advocacy. Equipped with multilingual allergy cards and snacks she knew she could safely eat, Lindsay learned to adapt and confidently communicate her needs in unique situations.
Lindsay returned to campus with greater confidence, cultural awareness and a broader perspective on the professional choices ahead of her.
“I believe this experience will help guide the professional decisions I make throughout my career and strengthen my ability to collaborate across cultures,” Lindsay says.
Inspiration Through Innovation
For Ethan, an Engineering and Management student, the experience sparked new academic interests and offered a different perspective on innovation, history and culture.
In Iceland, Ethan learned how the country’s abundant basalt formations can be used to permanently store captured carbon dioxide through mineralization. At a Panasonic facility in the Czech Republic, Ethan saw firsthand how heat pump technology can efficiently heat and cool homes using cleaner energy. Seeing these technologies in practice, and meeting the people working to advance them, inspired him to explore the subjects further and consider carbon capture and CO2 mineralization as potential areas of research.
“I now seriously think about researching CO2 mineralization and methods of carbon capture because of how impactful it was to see the technology and the people working on it firsthand,” Ethan says.
The experience also extended beyond technology and business, Ethan says. Walking through Berlin, he encountered visible reminders of World War II and the Cold War, including war-damaged buildings and markers tracing the former path of the Berlin Wall. A visit to Terezín in the Czech Republic offered another powerful encounter with European history. He says those experiences prompted him to reflect on how societies preserve difficult histories and the importance of remembering the past.
The trip also fulfilled a personal goal for Ethan, who described experiencing Iceland’s landscape as a “bucket list” opportunity. Together, the academic, cultural and personal experiences made the journey one he says was difficult to fully capture in words.
Lessons That Last
Lindsay and Ethan returned to Clarkson with distinctly different discoveries, but their stories demonstrate the broader impact of experiential learning made possible through HEES.
Supported by the generosity of Honors Program donors, HEES funding helps remove financial barriers to high-impact opportunities such as study abroad, research, internships, conference participation and professional development. These experiences allow students to expand their education, explore new interests and discover possibilities that can shape what comes next.
For more information about the Clarkson University Honors Program, visit clarkson.edu/academics/honors.
