Nebraska Wesleyan junior Arabelle Horst was awarded a study abroad grant by The Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi—the nation’s oldest and most selective collegiate honor society for all academic disciplines.
Horst is one of just 75 students nationwide to receive the award. The grant is designed to support undergraduates, both members and nonmembers, from campuses that have Phi Kappa Phi chapters as they seek to study abroad.
A double major in political science and business administration, Horst will use the grant to study for three weeks in Mexico City.
Horst will stay with a local family and attend classes in Spanish, Mexican history, and Mexican culture. Horst and the other seven NWU students on the trip will experience Mexican history and culture when they aren’t in the classroom.
With these courses, Horst will complete her Spanish minor.
“I always wanted to study abroad, but I wasn’t really sure if I’d be able to work a whole semester into my schedule,” Horst said. “So I felt like a nice three-week trip in the summer would be pretty awesome to still be able to fit everything in.”
While she’s in Lincoln, Horst has plenty at NWU to keep her busy. She’s a member of Willard Sorority, the NWU choir, Huge Society, and the Alpha Mu Gamma language honorary. She’s also a Prairie Wolves Welcome leader, works in the Cooper Center as a writing tutor, and was on the executive team of the NWU dance club.
Horst has followed in the footsteps of her father, Justin, and her uncles as Nebraska Wesleyan students, and her younger sister will join her on campus this fall.
Wesleyan’s tight-knit campus community drew Horst in, she said, especially after conversations with Assistant Professor of Political Science Nathaniel Smith. She’s gotten as involved as she wants, while also getting personal attention from professors and working toward a quality degree.
“I just remember talking to Dr. Smith, and he was talking about what a small campus community can really do for you,” Horst said. “I really liked the idea of getting to know your professors a lot more, as well as being really involved.
“I feel like on bigger campuses it can be harder to be involved in lots of things, but on our smaller campus I get to be involved a lot.”
One of the longest-standing chapters of Phi Kappa Phi, Nebraska Wesleyan was the 11th college or university to join the honor society, doing so in 1914. Membership is by invitation only to the top 10% of seniors and graduate students, and 7.5% of juniors.