‘Purple Passport’ experiences give student-athletes bold and creative opportunities to study overseas
There are few college experiences more immersive, eye-opening and transformational than studying abroad. But for many student-athletes, rigorous year-round training schedules make it difficult, if not impossible, to be away from campus for an entire quarter.
The UW’s Purple Passport program takes a can-do approach to giving student-athletes opportunities to venture overseas with service learning trips to places like China, Japan, French Polynesia and beyond.
This March, student-athletes joined other UW students in a Classics course and traveled to Rome with Professor Sarah Stroup for a week and a half, touring the Colosseum and the Pantheon, and trekking to Mount Vesuvius to peer down at the ruins of Pompeii.
“You hear about Vesuvius destroying Pompeii, but when you’re there you get a sense of spatial and temporal immediacy,” Professor Stroup says. “You look down on the city that was destroyed in 79 A.D. and you’re standing on the volcano that did it. Suddenly, that doesn’t seem inaccessible and far away. It just becomes part of your world experience.”
As part of “War Games, Greek Athletes, Roman Gladiators, the Modern Olympics and College Football,” students visited a Gladiatorial Training Center, where they donned tunics and wielded padded wooden swords as they re-enacted duels.
Justin Schmidt, a senior in Men’s Soccer, walked away feeling a deeper sense of appreciation for the privilege that modern-day athletes have to play sports for fun.
“Gladiators were competing for more than just the victory. They were competing for their lives,” Justin reflected, grateful for the donor support and scholarships that allowed him and other students to go on the trip.
Purple Passport also funds courses UW athletes take when their teams travel to compete internationally.
Your impact on the student-athlete experience
Husky Athletics puts student-athletes first — in academics, in athletics and in life. Your support empowers this promise. When you give to The Game Changer Campaign for Husky Athletics, together we will lead the PAC-12 and the nation in providing all UW student-athletes with transformative experiences like Purple Passport and more. Because of you, we can and will continue to offer mentoring programs, study-abroad opportunities, internships and other experiences that create well-rounded leaders who will shape our world for generations to come. Learn more about how you can support game-changing student-athlete experiences.
