Makayla Arnold, a senior at Ashland University, studied abroad in Scotland this past summer as part of a forensic science program.

2017 Jan 25

Makayla Arnold, a resident of Butler, Ohio, is a 2014 graduate of Clear Fork High School. She is the daughter of Rodney and Toni Arnold of Butler. Arnold will graduate from AU this spring, after just three years of schooling, with a major in Forensic Chemistry and a double minor in Criminal Justice and French.

Arnold said the Scotland program taught her very useful skills in the processing of crime scenes and evidence analysis; skills that she is going to need while working in her field of study.

The forensic science program in Scotland is fairly new to the United States; it was previously partnered only with a school in California. The year Arnold attended was the first year that it was open to students across the U.S. When the program saw success from previous students, they sent out information to every school with a forensics program in the U.S. Dr. Rebecca Corbin, chair of AU's Chemistry Department, received the material and she and Dr. Brian Mohney sent it their most promising students suggesting that they apply.

"This program provided us with a lot of cultural experiences. They took us to see the Highlands and Loch Ness, and no I didn't see the monster," she said. "We also did a walking tour of the city we stayed in, which had a lot going on while we were there including soccer tournaments and festivals."

Arnold said the program provided the group with a number of ways to go to church, and she experienced Scottish Catholicism, which she said was "new and interesting." "The priest of this church took the entire class to a professional soccer game," she added.

The program also provided the students with en-suit rooms and provided them with the ability to cook for themselves. Arnold mentioned the 23 other students in the program with her stayed in flats that were similar to regular dorm rooms on campus.

"As part of the other cultural experience they took us to a whiskey distillery and local bars, this seemed to be a large part of their culture. They had a person who they paid to be our guardian, he would take us to their version of Walmart but then also show us places in the cities where locals go for fun," she said. "They took us to see Stirling Castle, the Kelpies and Falkirk wheel, two famous places in Scotland. We had about two or three days of field trips per week and one of those was a day of cultural experiences. As part of the program, they took us on a lot of field trips to various places that were relevant to the program, providing us more literal applications of what we were learning, like crime labs, their main police department, their courts to sit in on various court cases, and prisons, which are vastly different that U.S. prisons."

Because of her minor in French, Arnold decided to extend her stay and take a five-day trip to Paris where she was able to test her speaking skills that she acquired during her time at Ashland. She said the fact that plane tickets from country to country were very inexpensive made it easy for her to explore more countries.

Arnold offered some advice to students who are thinking about studying abroad. "Just do it, it's not as expensive as you think. It costs a lot of money, but it is cheaper now than it will be when you graduate," she said. "If someone asked me if studying abroad is worth the money, worth taking out a student loan and worth your time -- I would absolutely say yes."

Ashland University, ranked in the top tier of colleges and universities in U.S. News and World Report's National Universities category for 2017, is a mid-sized, private university conveniently located a short distance from Akron, Cleveland and Columbus, Ohio. Ashland University (www.ashland.edu) deeply values the individual student and offers a unique educational experience that combines the challenge of strong, applied academic programs with a faculty and staff who build nurturing relationships with their students. ###