Ciao, Belle

Finding the words to describe my experience is akin to finding the right sentiment to a life-altering experience. Even now, as I sit here writing and searching for the ways to compartmentalize my thoughts, I am at a loss. I can begin to describe what my study abroad experience wasn’t.

Traveling thousands of miles alone, for the very first time, wasn’t without fear. In fact, I was terrified. Going to a new country with a different culture and dynamic wasn’t easy. If anything, it was eye-opening. Finding this life experience amid all the chaos in our world wasn’t simple—it was one of the biggest steps I’ve taken in my life.

My name is Rosabella, but I usually go by Belle. I was born with a visual disability I’ve struggled with all my life. I am currently 22 years old and working to finish a Bachelor of Science in Liberal Arts with Excelsior. Because of my condition, among many other ones, I struggle to get out. I cannot drive, and many social activities always have fallen short of my capabilities. About 18 months ago, I was also in a car accident, leaving me unable to walk for about three months.

Excelsior was the best option, as the flexibility without needing to travel somewhere on my own or be around others made it ideal. Being isolated, though, confined to my space, I don’t find the life experiences many do. You could say I dreamed of being independent, to go on an adventure and explore outside my Rapunzel tower. I just didn’t. I couldn’t. I was told I couldn’t, and it was evident by my past experiences that I wouldn’t.

Fast-forward to the email I received from Excelsior in March 2024 highlighting the chance to study abroad in an amazing country I’ve always dreamed of seeing. As I sat there, moments after crying that I’d never see anything outside my bedroom windows, it felt almost like a sign. All the fears lingered, and I realized I might have been foolish for thinking about being in a new country, getting on a plane, and separating from my family for that long, given the conditions I have.

But had that thinking ever stopped me before? No. And I wouldn’t let it this time either.

I got on that plane, eight hours on my own with my extreme fear of airplanes and a brace around my foot, trying to navigate the tiny print I could barely read. I did that. I settled into the dorms, finding my way to live for a month with brand-new people and routines that couldn’t be further from what I had known. I did that. I learned more about my painting trade through the class I took, despite being told most of my life that art like that would be impossible for me. I did that.

I walked the streets of Rome, surrounded by new potential danger and incredible churches and landmarks I couldn’t have ever dreamed of seeing. I did that. I took the train up to Florence, witnessing the deep passion of my favorite works of art I had only seen through school projects on my screen. I did that. I trekked the ruins of Pompeii, my foot aching and my strength dwindling throughout the entire excursion while seeing the breathtaking historic monuments. I did that.

I did that.

I mean to say this, repetitive as it is. I did that, and I did that on my own. Sure, I had some support, and I had people around me. But despite everything I was told I couldn’t do, I did.

Lessons of the Eternal City

I am grateful for and enlightened by my period of studying in Rome as an Excelsior student. Much more than an academic pursuit, it has been a journey that has absolutely changed my view of many things by growing my knowledge of history and culture and, finally, changing my view of the world.

Upon arrival in Rome, I found myself instantly connected with the energetic combination of ancient history and modern lifestyle. The Roman Forum ruins, the grandeur of the Colosseum, and the splendor of the Vatican—these were not ordinary tourist spots; rather, they were living, breathing classrooms. Each historic site had a story to be discovered, and as I learned about the details of life in ancient Rome, I started to grasp the depth of accomplishment, the lessons learned from history.

Academically, the study in Rome broadened my learning in unexpected ways. Course offerings included experiential learning whereby lectures might be conducted in museums or historic sites. This interactive type of learning reinforced the mastery of the subject, making abstract notions more concrete and familiar. For instance, Renaissance art could be explored while examining the masterpieces of Michelangelo so one could learn about the cultural and philosophical influences on the art of that time. This experiential learning set off a new spark in my life for history and the arts, an interest I still carry today.

My experience in Rome greatly influenced my outlook outside the classroom. Being among people of different backgrounds and points of view helped me learn the importance of putting oneself in other people’s shoes and being more tolerant of others. I came home a little wiser, determined to foster depth in my own community, with a deeper respect for diversity. Life in Rome taught me something more valuable about life than anything I would have learned in school: People learned to get over the obstacles of living in a place, persist through the barriers of language, and fit in with new social behaviors. And they were more robust and independent for it.

I learned to welcome uncertainty and approach problems with an eye toward finding solutions. As is often said, every obstacle conquered—from riding the public transportation system to ordering a meal in Italian—is an opportunity for growth.

All Roads Lead to …

My study abroad experience at John Cabot University, in Rome, was a highlight of my liberal arts academic journey. This experience was made possible by the exquisite help I received from Excelsior University, which made the entire process run smoothly. As a Six Sigma practitioner, that is high praise! Excelsior used various communication methods to keep students well informed, including email, their website, and a chatbot. The staff was extremely knowledgeable about all requirements, including registration, travel, housing, and, most importantly to me, VA funding.

Upon arriving in Rome, I felt a bit grumpy, hungry, and exhausted after traveling from Utah. All I wanted was to get to my lodging without any problems. Given my 27-year background in logistics management in the Air Force, I am well aware of the difficulties associated with coordinating a large team bed-down. There are numerous moving parts, including personnel, luggage, and other logistics concerns. Excelsior and John Cabot executed the entire procedure flawlessly.

I enrolled in Street Photography, which I initially thought would be a breeze. However, it turned out to be much more challenging than I anticipated, with a significant emphasis on classroom work, theory, and composition. The professor, who was incredibly talented, led us through historic sites and town squares, giving us assignments that pushed us to apply what we learned in real time. We were required to bring our photos to class each day, and to my amazement, the professor remembered every student’s photos—their composition, use of color or black and white, leading lines, rule of thirds, etc. Her attention to detail and ability to recall each student’s work was remarkable. I found myself wanting to incorporate her classroom management techniques when I returned home and resumed teaching.

As the name of the course implies, the homework involved traipsing through Rome, and each day I found myself covering 6–8 miles, applying the day’s classroom theory. The final project was a five-minute video or PowerPoint presentation showcasing our work, and I titled my compilation “All Roads Lead to Rome.” My work was a culmination of the countless miles I walked and the deep connection I formed with the Eternal City through my camera lens. I delved into the “all roads lead to Rome” theme, researching the history and myths surrounding some of Rome’s most famous streets, such as the ancient Via Appia, the beloved Via Piccolomini with its stunning view of Vatican City, and the cherished Via dei Coronari and Via Panisperna. Additionally, I explored the legend of Castel Sant’Angelo, where the Archangel Michael is said to have appeared during a devastating plague, a miraculous event that led Pope Gregory I to rename the castle after the sighting. These historic events enriched my project, adding a deeper historical and cultural context to my work.

My study abroad experience was a pivotal moment in my education journey. The street photography course connected my liberal arts degree and my growing passion for teaching. The opportunity to assist a fellow student, who faced a medical challenge and missed several days of instruction, was a profound experience that combined my enthusiasm for education with the compassion and empathy essential for effective teaching. This experience, guided by a remarkable professor, highlighted the importance of adaptability and support in education. It also underscored the value of my unique educational background, which spans human resource management, logistics management, and liberal arts, and how these diverse fields enrich my approach as a 10th-grade teacher today.

In today’s digital era, information comes at us fast and furious, and we must learn to decipher the correct information. Whether we are looking for the day’s news headlines, researching data for a college paper, or reading about our favorite movie actor, where we get our information and what we trust as correct is crucial.

Just as imperative is the ability to recognize when more information is needed, find that data, and effectively use it.

“We live in a world where we’re constantly bombarded with information. And there’s so much of it that we need to be able to sift through and find what’s useful,” says Ben Pearson, department chair of general education and social sciences in Excelsior University’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. “But we also need to sift through it and understand what we can and can’t trust. … Information literacy is a multifaceted skill. And that’s part of what’s complicated about it. It’s not just one thing; it also involves the ability to evaluate that information and determine its quality.”

Information literacy is a powerful tool that enables individuals to obtain accurate information and make their own decisions on a variety of topics. What’s more, the ability to critically evaluate information is essential for effectively engaging in society, which fosters a sense of confidence and capability. Individuals with information literacy can critically evaluate information from leaders, media outlets, and interest groups. The result is the ability to make informed decisions, participate in meaningful public discussions, and hold leaders accountable.

In an October 2023 LinkedIn post, Wazi Nxumalo, founder and president of the University of Eswatini Information Science Society, wrote that one of the most significant benefits of information literacy is its effectiveness in combating fake news and misinformation. In an era where social media has made it increasingly challenging for people to distinguish fact from fiction, information literacy provides individuals with the necessary skills to evaluate sources, verify information, and make decisions based on reliable data. This focus on fighting misinformation can help people feel more secure and less vulnerable in the digital age.

But information literacy is not just important when reading the news. It’s also an important competency for students.

Building Firebreaks

In higher education, ideas are conceived, tested, and refined. Within this environment, information literacy is not only a skill but also a fundamental component of the educational process that many colleges and universities have consistently explored. Emphasizing the importance of information literacy in higher education can help students feel more prepared and competent in their academic endeavors.

The term “information literacy” was first included in the Middle States Commission on Higher Education’s standards for accreditation in 1989. (Excelsior University is accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, an institutional accrediting agency recognized by the U.S. secretary of education and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation.) In 1998, the Association of College and Research Libraries established the Task Force on Information Literacy Competency Standards for higher education, which were revised in January 2000.

With these standards as a foundation, Project Information Literacy (PIL), a nonprofit research institute, began a comprehensive study in 2008. The aim was to understand why students nationwide chose to use public search engines and internet sites like Google and Wikipedia, respectively, for academic research instead of resources offered by their local campus libraries.

Over the subsequent 14 years, PIL published reports and articles based on 12 studies involving nearly 21,000 students and graduates from 91 institutions across the United States. Their findings reveal the challenges students face when trying to locate and engage with information.

In PIL’s first report, titled “Finding Context: What Today’s College Students Say about Conducting Research in the Digital Age,” published in 2009, studies reveal that participants rely on various sources, including libraries, Google, and Wikipedia. However, they expressed frustration and confusion when trying to find relevant results for their college assignments or everyday questions. This indicates that even at the beginning of the century, students were overwhelmed by confusing, inaccurate, and irrelevant information, highlighting the need for a clearer understanding of information literacy.

Now, in 2025, students are still struggling with where they get their information. A recent study by the Faculty of Communication and Media Studies of the Universiti Teknologi MARA finds that students are increasingly using social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok to obtain their news, resulting in consistently receiving misinformation, since these platforms are only lightly moderated. After interviewing and studying 241 students, they find that students with more advanced literacy skills were better enabled to fact-check and analyze the content they consumed from a variety of sources.

The Pew Research Center, based in Washington, D.C., supports these findings. Pew has found that since 2020, a growing number of U.S. adults and young adults have been using TikTok as their information source.

Taming the Conflagration

At Excelsior University, staff and instructors are helping students ask the right questions and become masters of information literacy.

Excelsior has offered its Information Literacy course, INL 102, since around 2018. All students who attend Excelsior must complete this required information literacy component within the first 13 University credits they take. It’s important for students to learn how to research, read and process information, and cite sources while at Excelsior.

Recently the University introduced an updated version of the course that provides more faculty involvement and intriguing discussion topics. “We have a little more interaction and engagement with faculty in the class than we had before, … [and] the students appreciate it a lot more. … We can have conversations. We can have questions about things, and it’s not just, you know, ‘Read this chapter and take this test,’” Pearson says. As one example of a discussion topic, students talk about how even academic scholars and journalists sometimes get things wrong and how they have processes designed to minimize those problems and help them stay accurate.

Nicole Childrose, an INL 102 instructor, outlines the course: “From the outset, students engage in collaborative discussions to master critical concepts, such as identifying misinformation, navigating library and online databases, detecting cybersecurity threats like phishing, and understanding the nuances of citing sources and paraphrasing. This foundation ensures they grasp the principles of academic honesty and integrity, critical thinking, research skills, and communication.”

INL 102 provides students with foundational skills to use throughout college and life to make sound judgments about credible information. Students learn how to evaluate the quality and credibility of information presented in textual and nontextual sources, which ensures that their research is grounded in factual, well-supported evidence. This skill is necessary for writing research papers, preparing presentations, and participating in academic discussions.

“Students are guided through important discussions about scholarly resources and how to move through the world of information gathering, which is foundational to creating research reports and college success in general,” says Adam Rafalovich, another INL 102 instructor.

For some students, the temptation to copy and paste when working on multiple papers can be challenging to ignore. However, understanding the ethical use of information and the importance of original thought is critical to information literacy. Students in INL 102 and courses like it learn that proper citation is an academic requirement and a way to respect intellectual property. Students learn about citing sources, respecting the intellectual contributions of others, and the importance of producing original work. This not only upholds academic integrity but also fosters a culture of respect and honesty.

Additionally, students in INL 102 learn how to identify common cybersecurity threats and strategies to avoid them. This helps students avoid dangerous online behavior and navigate the digital landscape.

Igniting Smarter Info Seekers

Research shows that higher education students significantly improve their overall engagement and study habits when they learn to make information-literate decisions.

At Excelsior, students benefit from learning about information literacy through INL 102. Course outcomes include assessing the quality of information in various sources and evaluating arguments for logical fallacies. Based on course reviews, students are gaining these important skills they can use in academic and nonacademic environments. “From course evaluations and talking to students, I would say the majority of them really find it interesting,” Pearson says. He adds that many students have changed their way of thinking about gathering and interpreting information and that “they dig a little deeper into where [information] comes from and then evaluate the quality based on that.”

Childrose notes that the human element is crucial to effectively understanding all forms of knowledge in a world with increasing use of artificial intelligence. “Leveraging information literacy equips us to question and interpret AI outputs and ensure technology’s ethical and practical use in academic, real-world, and professional settings,” she says. “Beyond AI, it encompasses the ability to navigate and manage digital tools, platforms, and new technologies—an essential baseline skill in the 21st century.”

Building on this idea, Childrose emphasizes that information literacy not only helps individuals engage with AI responsibly but also equips them with the critical skills needed to navigate the broader digital landscape effectively. “By understanding ethics, conducting research, and applying these [information literacy] skills across various situations,” she says, “students are well-prepared to handle the complexities of the digital age with confidence and competence.”

At her own Commencement in 1996, Ruth Lown Turman knew she and her fellow graduates had reached a milestone together, but there was something missing: the physical representation that they were now part of the alumni community.

“Although we had gotten to Commencement through varying paths, we were leaving with a common identity and a common mission as alumni,” recalls Turman. From that moment forward, the Class of 1996 represented Excelsior (then Regents College) and would be bringing their knowledge into their communities and workplaces. She thought it was important that this was represented in some way, but how?

That’s when Turman landed on the idea of an alumni torch. It was an idea she held on to for the next 27 years.

A Proud Graduate

After graduating in 1996 with a Bachelor of Science in Management Information Systems, Turman quickly moved from a career in banking to working as a quality assurance analyst for an IT services company whose customers were some of the largest financial institutions in the United States. Careers in project management, business process engineering, and proposal management followed. “My Excelsior education provided the perfect foundation to allow my professional career to grow and evolve organically,” says Turman.

 Ruth Lown Turman leaned into her connection to Excelsior to make a gift of the alumni torch. Photo: Kyle Miller

But the impact of her Excelsior experience wasn’t just professional. Within a year of graduating, Turman became a member of Excelsior’s (then Regents College) alumni council. She says the true measure of the impact of the Alumni Association came during the first year she served on the council when she was diagnosed with cancer. “I tendered my resignation, but instead the council rearranged its schedule and events so that I was able to continue to participate throughout my treatments; the council became an extended family during those difficult days,” says Turman.

Being an Excelsior graduate has always meant something to Turman, so much so that one way Turman has personally given back is when, as a member of the alumni council, she made sure graduates weren’t alone during their Commencement. She says, “Over the years, I have attempted to adopt graduates who are at Commencement without family or friends so that they have someone who’s there to help them with their regalia and someone who encourages them as they walk across the stage and to applaud them.”

A Fortuitous Conversation

In late spring 2022, Turman made a connection that kick-started making her vision of an alumni torch a reality.

While she was making a scholarship donation to Excelsior, Turman had the opportunity to speak with Jamie Hicks-Furgang, assistant vice president of development and alumni engagement. Turman shared her idea of an alumni torch with Hicks-Furgang, and they discussed the torch becoming a Commencement alumni tradition. Excelsior’s Alumni Engagement and Marketing teams immediately began preparations to produce an alumni torch based on Turman’s vision.

The Alumni Leadership Council also recognized the torch’s potential to become Excelsior University’s first alumni tradition. Even more exciting was that the institution could start the tradition in July 2023 at the 51st Commencement, Excelsior’s first Commencement as a university.

 After a formal presentation, graduate speaker Jason DeLonais holds the alumni torch at Commencement 2023. Photo: Kris Qua

To Turman, the torch represents three important principles: scholarship, leadership, and service: scholarship because graduates chose Excelsior to continue their education; leadership because in earning their degrees, they have proven their ability to set and achieve goals; and service because it is a graduate’s responsibility to serve their community and give back to the University. Turman believes the torch symbolizes an opportunity for graduates to feel part of the University community and lets them know that their engagement with Excelsior doesn’t end once they graduate. “They are part of a community both at the University and within the alumni community that will support them and help them achieve their goals in life,” she says.

From Turman’s perspective, it is important for alumni to remember they belong to something larger than themselves — a growing community dedicated to helping each other and supporting Excelsior’s mission. “As alumni, we will always be a part of Excelsior University; it’s important to remember that connection and to carry it with us forward,” Turman says. “The torch gives us an opportunity to physically demonstrate that we are carrying that light out into the community.”

 The passing of the alumni torch becomes a tradition the next year when graduate speaker Sena Amegbletor carries the torch and leads graduates at the conclusion of Commencement 2024. Photo: Kris Qua

On July 14, 2023, Turman shared that light with more than 446 graduates and their families at Excelsior’s Commencement in Albany, New York. Draped in her regalia, Turman led the procession of the Alumni Leadership Council, proudly carrying the new torch for all to see. After degrees were awarded, Turman—with eyes shining and grin beaming—excitedly passed the torch to graduate speaker Jason DeLonais, a 2022 Master of Science in Criminal Justice and 2009 Bachelor of Science in Liberal Arts graduate. For a moment the two stood, hands of each on the handle of the alumni torch, and held the new symbol high for all to see Excelsior’s first alumni tradition.