By Bryant Welbourne

(Sept. 14, 2015) — Twenty-eight students representing each Southeastern Conference university will study abroad during the 2015-16 academic year, the result of a contribution to the league by Dr Pepper. The longtime SEC corporate sponsor allocated $100,000 to the conference to provide study abroad opportunities for high achieving SEC students with demonstrated financial need who represent nontraditional study abroad participants.

 Two students from each university are recipients. From the University of Kentucky, Adam Creamer, an environmental science major, will travel to Costa Rica, and Rockia Harris, a gender and women's studies major, will travel to South Africa.

“We are enthused to expand upon the SEC’s commitment to education by giving deserving students a chance to study abroad through the SECU academic initiative,” Jaxie Alt, senior vice president of marketing for Dr Pepper said when the program was established. “Dr Pepper has continued to fund one-of-a-kind dreams since 2008 through our tuition giveaway program, and now we are able to support the great work the SEC is doing.”

Each SEC university identified two students to participate in a faculty-led program occurring during either the summer, fall or spring terms. Funds will also be provided to selected students for the 2016-17 academic year.

“Increasing the amount and type of education abroad opportunities available to SEC students has been an SECU goal for more than a decade,” said Torie Johnson, executive director of the SECU Academic Initiative. “It’s exciting to know that thanks to Dr Pepper’s generosity, more SEC students than ever will have a life-changing experience in another part of the world.”

SECU was established in 2005 as the SEC Academic Consortium, and one of its original focal points was education abroad. In response, the consortium secured an Institute for Study Abroad Foundation grant to provide scholarships for SEC students to study at Queen’s University in Belfast, Ireland. In addition, by utilizing a cooperative agreement, students from SEC universities now have access to programs offered at other SEC universities. Finally, the SEC also has a partnership with the Politecnico di Torino which gives SEC engineering students the opportunity to study in Torino, Italy, each spring.

Below is the list of SEC students, their universities, majors and destinations abroad.

Student                                                            Major                                       Destination

Brittany Groves, University of Alabama              History                               Germany

Joshua Harvey, University of Alabama               Interdisciplinary Studies    Semester at Sea  

Britney Washington, University of Arkansas       Chemical Engineering       Belize

Tevin Whitney, University of Arkansas                Social Work                      France

Isabella Premont, Auburn University                    Engineering                       China

James Sims, Auburn University                           Psychology                       Spain

Pearl Hanna, University of Florida                       Interior Design                   Czech Republic

Claudia Lievano, University of Florida                 Telecommunication           India

Aaron Kask, University of Georgia                       International Affairs          Germany

Attiyya Skeete, University of Georgia                   Biology                             Japan

Adam Creamer, University of Kentucky               Environmental Science   Costa Rica

Rockia Harris, University of Kentucky                  Gender & Women’s Studies  South Africa

Jaude’ Petrie, Louisiana State University             Biological Sciences          France

Nelson Williams, Louisiana State University         Classical Civilizations       Netherlands

Kenedi Hobson, University of Mississippi             Communication DisordersTanzania

Austin Powell, University of Mississippi                 Public Policy & Leadership Spain

Brandon Baxter, Mississippi State University        Chemical Engineering     Germany

Karissa Logan, Mississippi State University          Human Sciences             Italy

Stevie Winingear, University of Missouri               Anthropology                   Greece

Kenny Yang, University of Missouri                       Elementary Education    India

Sidney Cutter, University of South Carolina          International Studies        South Korea

Harrison Howell, University of South Carolina      Computer Science          Japan

William Burks, University of Tennessee                Biological Sciences         Spain

Nichole Stevens, University of Tennessee            Communication               England

Mitchell Parma, Texas A&M University                  Biomedical Sciences     Costa Rica

Kayla Villarreal, Texas A&M University                  Visualization                   Italy

Jason Miller, Vanderbilt University                         Biomedical Engineering  Australia

Hannah Stack, Vanderbilt University                      Latin American Studies  Chile