Meet Hannah Norwood

Student Spotlight

Meet Hannah Norwood; a 21-year-old history major from Griffin, Georgia, and recipient of the Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship.

Norwood came to Gordon State College in the fall of 2018 due to it being close to home and offering affordable tuition rates that would allow her to save money for traveling. When she was younger, Norwood had dreams of becoming a history teacher. However, after she started taking classes in politics and traveling, she knew she wanted a job that would allow her a chance to see the world while also being involved in foreign affairs. She plans on joining the Peace Corps after graduation with the hope of becoming a Foreign Service Officer later in her career.

Being a Gordon student has allowed Norwood to live out her dream of studying abroad during the spring 2021 semester. She is grateful for the faculty and staff that helped her navigate this process and made the opportunity available to her in light of the difficult times this past year has produced. When she first started the process of studying abroad, she was originally going to London for a four-week program. Due to COVID-19, this trip was canceled, but Norwood later got placed in a study abroad program at Aberystwyth University in Wales for the spring semester.

One of the things Norwood enjoys most about her program is getting to meet many of the international students her university hosts and having the opportunity to learn new things about other countries through them. She encourages anyone that is considering studying abroad to pursue it despite it being a difficult process at times. It has brought her many wonderful memories, allowed her to make friends with people from all over the world and enriched her academic experience. One of her favorite courses is a course she is taking now that deals with the European Union. She is able to learn a lot about European politics from Brexit while living in a country that recently left the EU.

An average day during her semester abroad begins with a lecture in the morning and lunch with her flatmates. This is usually followed by a trip to town where they walk along the beach or hike Constitution Hill to watch the sunset before walking back to make dinner and inviting some of her friends over. Norwood says, “since I am only here for a semester, my friends and I try to always do something. A few highlights would include: hiking nine miles to another town seeing the beautiful Welsh landscape and then taking a train back, waking up at 4 AM to walk down to the castle ruins and watch the sunrise with a couple of my flatmates and celebrating the Chinese New Year with one of my flatmates and his friends. We all gathered in the kitchen and tried new food and listened to them singing and just enjoying the celebration.”