MIDDLETOWN, Pa. — Brazilian students Matheus Henrique, a senior electrical engineering student, and Ivan Melo Ribeiro, a sophomore civil engineering student, are discovering new experiences every day at Penn State Harrisburg.
Here as a part of the Brazilian Scientific Mobility Program, Henrique and Melo Ribeiro are excited for the different learning and social experiences that studying in the United States has provided for them.
“I wanted to come here because I heard that schools in the U.S. are great, the best in the world, and I wanted a good education,” Melo Ribeiro said. “This experience is a lot different from Brazil; I am taking classes that will have a greater impact and the daily life experiences have been great.”
Henrique added that he had two options, United States or Sweden. “I chose the U.S. because I wanted the experience of living in the U.S., as well as the U.S. academic experience.”
The students said that studying at Penn State Harrisburg has helped them mature.
“I feel like I am growing three times faster here in the U.S.,” Henrique said. “Even though I am a senior, I feel like a new student because of the new learning topics.”
“This is the first time living without my parents,” Melo Ribeiro said. “I have to do my own laundry and go to the supermarket.”
The Brazilian Scientific Mobility Program, sponsored by the U.S. and Brazilian governments and administered by the Institute of International Education (IIE), provides scholarships to undergraduate and graduate students in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields from Brazil for study at U.S. colleges and universities. It helps to widen the academic and research exchange between the U.S. and Brazil. This is Penn State Harrisburg’s first year participating in the program.
After completion of an academic year, including a summer internship, students return to Brazil to complete their degrees.
Henrique will soon graduate and said that he plans to get a master’s degree and a doctorate. “I want to work in the U.S., Canada or Europe and live far from home,” he added.
While Melo Ribeiro has some time to decide his future plans, he indicated an interest in working in the U.S.
For now the students are content to make new memories and discover new things during their time at Penn State Harrisburg. They have attended their first football game, a Penn State game at Beaver Stadium, and Henrique has been to Hersheypark, twice.
“Everything is memorable,” Melo Ribeiro said. “Every time we go to lunch we find something we haven’t seen before.”
“It’s been very different,” Henrique added. “Not a single thing is the same as Brazil.”