Study Abroad

Study Abroad Photo Contest Winners 2025

Congratulations to our 2025 Study Abroad Photo Contest winners!

Badgers Abroad
Global Classroom
Humans in the Environment
Live Like a Local
Postcard Perfect

Badgers Abroad

1st place

Photographer: Morelle Heiden
Photo Location:  Kilema Kati, Tanzania
Study Abroad Program:   UW Health, Education, & Tanzanian Culture

Description:  This photo was taken on one of the first days of my experience abroad, and it really set the bar high. We hiked in Kilema Kati and saw a beautiful waterfall where we expressed our badger pride!

A group of people making a "W" with their fingers are standing in front of a waterfall, surrounded by tree branches and luscious green plants.

2nd place

Photographer:   Natalie Furtado
Photo Location:  Ngorongoro, Tanzania
Study Abroad Program:  UW Health, Education, & Tanzanian Culture

Description:  In Ngorongoro, the world’s largest unbroken volcanic caldera, Natalie Furtado looks out onto an African Giant Tusker Elephant.

A student wearing a white bucket hat with a red Wisconsin motion W embroidered on it. They are looking over the top of a safari vehicle at an elephant.

3rd place

Photographer:   Laura Martina Patricia Curry
Photo Location:  Seville, Spain
Study Abroad Program:  CIEE Advanced Liberal Arts & Liberal Arts in Seville

Description:  Badger pride at Plaza de España in Sevilla, Spain. La Plaza de España was built for the Iberian-American Exposition of 1929 and is located in the María Luisa Park. It is decorated with tiles showing the history of Spain, and was featured in the films “Lawrence of Arabia” and “Star Wars: Episode 2”.

Laura stands in a red Badger sweatshirt in front of a stone railing overlooking a courtyard.

Honorable Mention

Photographer:  Ella Gilhooly
Photo Location:  Costa Rica
Study Abroad Program:  UW Banking Animal Biodiversity in Costa Rica

Description: The UW Banking Animal Biodiversity Program students and faculty making the “W” at their last stop in Costa Rica!

Group of students pose making a "W" with their fingers in front of a white building with the text "Centro de Visitantes La Selva."

Global Classroom

1st Place

Photographer:   Jess Randall
Photo Location:  Lunga Lunga, Kenya
Intern Abroad Program:  Health By All Means Community Health Outreach Internship

Description:  International Intern Jess Randall leading a health lesson on diabetes with one of Nikumbuke’s rural women’s groups in rural Kenya. Over the summer, she taught more than 1,000 women and girls across 20 villages and discovered that health education is most powerful when it grows from community voices, peer learning, and collective resilience. This experience reshaped her understanding of progress in global health, not as outsiders arriving to “fix” problems, but as partnerships that strengthen the leadership already present within communities.

Jess stands with her back to a classroom full of people in yellow shirts, writing on a chalkboard.

2nd Place

Photographer:  Char Braxton
Photo Location:  Taizhou, China
Study Abroad Program:  CIEE Accelerated Chinese Language in Shanghai

Description:  This is in Taizhou and a college overnight field trip. I am standing outside of a rice field. I truly appreciated the learning of Chinese culture outside of the classroom. I was also able to talk with some of the locals about growing rice. It’s hard work, but worth it.

A woman in red stands on a pathway that cuts between two expansive green fields, with many trees in the background.

3rd Place

Photographer:   Gabriela Wolf
Photo Location:  Berlin, Germany
Study Abroad Program:  IES Berlin Summer Language and Culture

Description:  During my Politics of Memory class, we learned about how Germany approached its own past by visiting different memorials and sights that were built in various eras and discussed a wide range of historical events. Here, at the Jewish Museum in Berlin, we took part in an interactive exhibit and walked on top of hundreds of metal faces and were surrounded by unfamiliar and disorienting architecture. I had seen this exhibit online but being there in person provoked a lot of reflection among my classmates and me.

Several people walk on a pathway between soaring concrete walls. The pathway is made of metal faces in distress.

Honorable Mention

Photographer:   Abby Sprehe
Photo Location:  South Africa, Cape Town
Study Abroad Program:  CFHI Global Health Internships in South Africa

Description:  Me in front of the Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital. This is where I shadowed for 5 weeks, observing various aspects of the healthcare system.

Abby stands in purple scrubs on painted blue concrete in front of a tall, red building.

 

Live Like a Local

1st Place

Photographer:   Reem Itani
Photo Location:  Petra, Jordan
Study Abroad Program:  CIEE Middle East Studies in Amman

Description:  A picture of me wearing a traditional Bedouin headwrap in front of a wall of cloth in a market stall in Petra. The owner was so kind and made tea for me!

Reem smiles with a yellow headscarf, standing in front of several multicolored cloths.

2nd Place

Photographer:   Evelyn Case
Photo Location:  Helsinki, Finland
Study Abroad Program:   DIS – Study Abroad in Scandinavia

Description:  A traditional home-cooked meal I made with my classmates in Helsinki, Finland.

A wide spread of traditional food is placed symmetrically on a table. The meal consists of fish and vegetables.

3rd Place

Photographer:  Ashlie Hewett
Photo Location:  Seoul, South Korea
Study Abroad Program:  Yonsei University Exchange

Description:  Visiting Everland amusement park dressed in school uniforms (a tradition amongst the locals!)

Seven students wearing white and black school uniforms are posed for a photo at an amusement park lined with trees.

Honorable Mention

Photographer:   Katie Axelsen
Photo Location:  Dos Hermanas, Spain
Intern Abroad Program:  English Social Club (ESC) English Language Teaching Internship

Description:  My co-intern, Adrianna, and I dancing at Féria, a local festival in Spain that emphasizes culture and includes lots of music, dancing, and fair rides. This was my favorite experience during my time studying abroad because of the unique aspects of culture that I had never experienced.

Two women in long, flowy skirts dance beneath colorful metal art pieces.

Humans in the Environment

1st Place

Photographer:  Tyler Atkins
Photo Location:  Sevilla, Spain
Study Abroad Program:   CIEE Barcelona Business and Culture

Description:  I captured this image during my trip to Sevilla. If you walk around there for a couple minutes, the extent of scooter use becomes glaringly apparent. These little things are widely-owned, and for good reason. While the teal-ish color scheme oftentimes steals the show, the environmental impact of these scooters is far less than any car, making them significant in the sustainable transportation system and a Spanish staple.

A mint green motorcycle is in focus along a street, passing by blurry cars in the background.

2nd Place

Photographer:   Evelyn Case
Photo Location: Copenhagen, Denmark
Study Abroad Program:   DIS – Study Abroad in Scandinavia

Description:  We found one! In this photo, my friends and I are sitting on a giant art installation. The artist, Thomas Dambo, uses 100% recycled materials to build trolls and integrate them into natural settings. They are meant to encourage people to explore nature and raise awareness for sustainability efforts. These trolls are hidden all around Copenhagen, throughout Denmark, and there are even some international trolls. If you’d like to visit one of these installations, you can find them on trollmap.com 🙂

Three people smile and pose on a giant wooden statue of a troll sitting. A mural behind them reads, "The world is in our hands."

3rd Place

Photographer:   Jaen Muñoz
Photo Location:  Galapagos Islands, Ecuador
Study Abroad Program:  Ceiba Tropical Conservation Semester: Galapagos, Andes and Amazon

Description:  This is a mating pair of Flightless Cormorants during courtship during my time in the Galapagos Islands, Ecuador. I was extremely fortunate that this pair got super close to the boat I was on, allowing me to get this close up picture. It was a magical moment, considering all the threats these guys are experiencing due to climate change, pollution, and other forms of human impacts.

Two Flightless Cormorants are close together in the water. Their necks are almost intertwined and the water is splashing around them.

Honorable Mention

Photographer:  Hannah Herbst
Photo Location:  Nanyuki, Kenya
Study Abroad Program:   SFS Endangered Species Conservation

Description: An endangered Grevy’s zebra at the Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Nanyuki, Kenya. Ol Pejeta helps breed Grevy’s zebras in a predator-free environment an effort to restore their populations, exemplifying Kenya’s commitment to Endangered species conservation.

Close up view of the front half of a zebra with dirt on its nose as it looks into the distance. Another zebra's back is visible behind the first zebra.

Postcard Perfect

1st place

Photographer:  Alexa Coleman
Photo Location:  Hallstatt, Austria
Study Abroad Program:  IES Vienna Business, Economics, and International Relations

Description:  This photo is of Hallstatt, Austria, which is where the town in Frozen was modeled after. It is one of the most beautiful places I have ever been, and it was my first solo trip!

Skyline view of Hallstatt with mountains in the background and a lake in the foreground.

2nd place

Photographer:  Hannah Herbst
Photo Location: Amboseli National Park, Kenya
Study Abroad Program:  SFS Endangered Species Conservation

Description:  A Masai giraffe in front of Mount Kilimanjaro. This photo commemorates one of my first giraffe sightings in Africa, and it captures the awe-inspiring beauty of the Kenyan landscape that I was privy to every day of my journey abroad.

Long shot view of a field with Mount Kilimanjaro in the background. A giraffe is on the left side of the field and is looking at the camera.

3rd place

Photographer:   Bhoomika Pillai
Photo Location:  Chamonix, France
Study Abroad Program:  UW in Paris

Description:  Skiers at the top of Mont Blanc in the French Alps.

Figures of three people are barely visible standing in the snow at the base of towering rock face.

Honorable Mention

Photographer:  Tyler Atkins
Photo Location: Sevilla, Spain
Study Abroad Location:   CIEE Barcelona Business and Culture

Description:  I captured this photo at the iconic fountains at Plaza de Espana in Sevilla. I waited a while lining this up with the person walking through, but it made for quite a shot that exemplifies the beautiful and thoughtful architectural design of many buildings throughout Spain and Europe.

A person in the distance walks past a large, extravagant fountain.