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What's News
Alumni now provide a student perspective in the application process
 Students considering studying onboard The Scholar Ship can now interact directly with our alumni worldwide to learn first-hand about their experiences while traveling the world aboard our ship. “We have placed peer advisors, all of whom have already studied in our program, throughout the world to provide interested students with an informative perspective that will help them determine if The Scholar Ship is the right program for them,” said Judith Froman, director of enrollment management. As one peer advisor put it, “Anyone evaluating The Scholar Ship would be crazy not to call us. We’ve experienced the program, so there aren’t too many questions we can’t answer.”
Receive a call-back from a peer advisor >
The Scholar Ship celebrates its first intercultural wedding at sea
 On a beautiful March day off the coast of Western Africa, The Scholar Ship community celebrated its first official wedding. Officiated by the ship’s captain, intercultural communications professor Kerstin Pilz and her partner Giovanni Cocco were married on the ship’s aft deck.
The entire community participated in the intercultural wedding, dressing in creative traditional attire while a band of students and staff played and staff members escorted the wedding party. As soon as Kerstin and Gianni were pronounced husband and wife, the ship’s whistle blew – a perfect maritime moment. After the captain presided over the traditional ceremony, Academic Dean Pat Masters led participants in a Buddhist ceremony. The Moroccan students then led everyone in a Moroccan wedding dance.
After the ceremony, all proceeded to the Lido deck for dinner, more traditional dance performances by students, the cake-cutting, and the couple’s first dance as husband and wife. Kerstin threw her bouquet from the upper deck… directly into the pool. Undeterred, an eager student jumped in after it!
“We were thrilled to be able to celebrate our wedding at sea with the entire TSS community – we will remember this day for the rest of our lives,” say Giovanni and Kerstin, the January 2008 voyage’s most celebrated couple.
View music video from wedding ceremony and celebration >
Endowment created to provide additional funding source for prospective students
The Scholar Ship is strongly committed to having a high-quality student population that is diverse, both culturally and socio-economically. To achieve this goal, we have created The Scholar Ship Endowment to help make the opportunity of a lifetime a reality for everyone interested in and qualified to participate in the program. All U.S. students must provide a completed FAFSA form, and non-U.S. students must complete The Scholar Ship Student Aid Application form. Funding recipients will be expected to help replenish the fund for the benefit of future students and as a commitment to the long-term success of the program.
Receive a call-back from a peer advisor >
Port
Spotlight: Auckland, New Zealand
 The Scholar Ship docks in Auckland, New Zealand on 7 November, 2008. Springtime in the Southern Hemisphere! Auckland, T?maki-makau-rau or ?karana in the indigenous Maori language, is on New Zealand’s North Island and her largest city. The center of Auckland lies on an isthmus nestled between Manukau Harbour on the Tasman Sea and the Waitemata Harbour on the Pacific Ocean. It is one of only a few cities worldwide to have ports on two, completely separate, major bodies of water.
English and Maori are New Zealand’s two official languages. English is more widely spoken, though the Maori language is making a comeback as indigenous kiwis reclaim their cultural identity and pass it on to the younger generation. The country’s art and culture reflect the complex, interwoven history of the Pakehas (New Zealand European) and Maori that began when Captain James Cook grabbed it for the English crown in 1769.
Lonely Planet describes New Zealand as, “a country of rare seismic beauty: glacial mountains, fast-flowing rivers, deep, clear lakes, hissing geysers and boiling mud. There are also abundant native forests, long, deserted beaches and a variety of fauna, such as the kiwi, endemic to its shores.” Students from the September 2007 voyage relished their New Zealand experience and titled their voyage book, "Hononga" (Maori word meaning union, connection, relationship). “Our ship landed in Auckland on a brisk spring day. Our community’s first taste of cold after nearly two and a half months at sea, people scrambled for jackets and sweaters to keep warm. Students and staff alike took to the sands, hills, and skies, taking advantage of New Zealand’s numerous adventure sports and nature reserves. After seven days of Zorbing, caving and trekking, the adrenaline rush subsided and our community gathered once again to continue the voyage.”
Shore Excursion Profile - Maori Artist Tour
Visit a number of Maori artists in their home studios, to see their art, learn about Maori culture, their aesthetic influences and unique techniques. Enjoy some inspiring conversation and learn about Maori history with the artists over a relaxing cup of tea in their home. This is a rare opportunity to catch a glimpse of the personal and professional lives of these gifted artists. Visit a wood & bone carver, a cloak maker and a greenstone carver.
Learn
more about our experiential-based
port program >
Moments of Inspiration
An excerpt from blog, “Kasee’s Scholar Ship Adventure”
Posted Wednesday, 26 March 2008
Cape Town
"We went to an afterschool program in a black township and talked and played games with the teenagers/children there. The children then performed 2 short plays for us which included these amazing evangelical songs. It was honestly one of the most amazing things I have ever seen or heard. These teenagers are so strong when their lives are so hard. They go to this program (a shack-like building with benches) to get away from all the crime and danger in the townships. They performed plays and sang about the trials of their lives including violence, discrimination, and even rape. They were so happy to have us there and they were so nice to us. They kept saying thank you to us for coming and I couldn't believe they were thanking us. They let us into their world and it was so powerful. I stood up to thank them and couldn't help crying in awe of their strength and dedication to living good lives and pushing out the bad that surrounds them on so many levels. We were all quite moved by their examples, and after taking millions of pictures with them, walked away different people.”
Kasee Moore is an undergraduate student hailing from Texas, USA, currently studying in the Conflict Studies Learning Circle aboard the January 2008 voyage.
View Moments of Inspiration Archive >
What Can The Scholar Ship Offer You?
To succeed in this increasingly interdependent world, you need
more than linguistic abilities. You need the intercultural knowledge
and understanding that comes from experiences among many cultures.
Aboard The Scholar Ship, you will live and learn in a multicultural
community that simply does not exist elsewhere. View
our video library and learn what The Scholar Ship can do for you!
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The Scholar Ship is a globally recognized academic program aboard a transformed passenger ship hosting both undergraduate and postgraduate students on semester-long voyages around the world. Participants from diverse cultural backgrounds come together to co-create life-changing experiences that develop their intercultural competence and foster friendships reaching the far corners of the world.
How did The Scholar Ship change your views of the world?
Do you have questions you would like to ask students who have already studied
aboard The Scholar Ship? We bet you do! Participate in one of our scheduled live chat sessions and gain a student perspective
that is informative and interactive. 
"There is no better way to travel the world than on a ship filled with the most diverse, unique, and charismatic people you will ever meet. Our final destination is not our goal; it's what we're experiencing while getting there."
