To Be Ebersole Is To Be Everywhere

Senior Skyler Ebersole has not been afraid to take advantage of all the opportunities that Marist has to offer. Photo by William Haydon '25

Many students are drawn to Marist College by the expansive study abroad opportunities, notably in places like Florence, Italy and Dublin, Ireland. Skyler Ebersole ‘25, however, has taken study abroad to a whole new level by visiting 26 countries in her time at college, visiting places in Asia, such as Nepal and Japan, and also various countries spanning across Europe. 

During her travels, Ebersole has managed two majors and an internship that accelerated her professional career in marketing and fashion. 

Doubling up with both a fashion merchandising and business administration degree, Ebersole chose to take on the Asia Study Abroad Program, in addition to traveling to Florence for a semester. While some schools may offer students the opportunity to visit two to three countries in Asia, Marist goes as far as bringing interested students to 10 or more countries within the continent. 

“I didn’t know about the ASAP program going into Marist," said Ebersole. “But when my friend brought it up, I thought ‘When else am I going to be able to do this again?’”

The flexibility of ASAP was a highlight, with company visits to places such as Ford, Summit and BMW. In addition to hands-on experience, students completed classes in the morning at hotels and then had the remainder of the day to explore the country they were in, rotating countries after around a week. 

When in Europe, Ebersole had the opportunity to travel around by air or rail, usually at cheap prices not seen in the U.S. Unlike the 10 or so students participating in ASAP, students at the Florence program were upwards of 200 and came from various institutions. Even though the experiences were different, there were still ample things to do in both places. Fun experiences in Europe included paragliding in Switzerland and attending Milan Fashion Week.

“One class, we went shopping, and we saw the difference between the U.S. and Italy,” she said.

In addition to the chance to travel, Ebersole had plenty of chances to advance her professional career as well. She interned for corporate at Kohl’s and celebrated becoming a top 100 intern for the company. She also was a National Retail Federation scholarship recipient, which she originally got involved with through a club on campus.

“It was a club I got started with here freshman year,” she said. “It promotes the retail industry for students and really promotes what’s going to be the next generation of retail.”

Ebersole has been vocal about the values the experience gave her, as well as encouraging other Marist students to do the same. Seeing people from various cultures changed her worldview, and any student with the drive to travel and see places around the world should use college as the opportunity to do so.

The experience, while extremely rewarding, was difficult. Ebersole did mention that managing schoolwork with travel could be overwhelming, and sometimes, issues like Internet connectivity would arise. Marist students participating in ASAP travel with a professor, but use online classes to achieve the 12-credit minimum for the program.

“Moving so fast can be a lot,” she said. “The classes were often taught by the students — we’d learn a chapter and teach it to other people in the class.”

Students looking to go down a similar path are recommended to save more general classes for abroad and take more specialized classes on the Poughkeepsie campus. Ebersole reserved core classes, like Ethics and World Religions, for her time abroad.

“There’s a certain niche,” she said. “You have to plan ahead; if you don’t, you won’t have enough credits that you need. I’d say balancing the school experience was about prioritizing getting schoolwork done in the mornings.”

With minimal culture shock, Ebersole has expanded her worldview and furthered her career. Unlike the narrowness of New York, Florence and Asia were both places that felt like there was something new to do between every class.

“Take every opportunity you can to say yes,” she said.