Cam Hartman will visit Denmark in 2014-2015. On August 4, 2014, he talks about how having friends from Scandinavia influenced him to try study abroad himself, how he is looking forward to continuing to study abroad in college and encourages other students to plan ahead to study abroad.
My name is Cam Hartman, I go to Hempfield High School in Landisville, Pennsylvania and I am going for a year to Denmark.
And what made you decide to go to Denmark?
I knew I wanted to go to a Scandinavian country because I have some very good friends that actually came to my high school as foreign exchange students from other Scandinavian countries. And after talking to Mrs. Felak, I ended up deciding to go to Denmark.
What language will you be speaking and have you spoke it before and what do you expect to have in terms of your language skills when you get back?
I will be speaking Danish in Denmark, which is a Scandinavian language and I'm trying my best to learn it, it's pretty tough, but I hope to be proficient at least in my Danish by the time I get back.
Is this experience influencing you in what you are thinking about in terms of college or how do you see this impacting you going forward?
I definitely think that it will give me a great view of the world as whole. I am looking at getting into the music business, which can end up being international in a way. It's definitely affected my college plans and things. I'm already looking for a college where I can study abroad again once I get to college, so it's affected my college search in that way, and also when I think it will be a great experience overall.
Why did you choose AFS and how has the whole Speedwell Scholarship influenced you?
Well, I did have a few very good friends come over here to my high school and they kind of convinced me to get involved and maybe try to study abroad myself, so I started looking and AFS was the first thing that came up and then they called me and said, “Hey, we have this scholarship available because of the area that you are from,” so I applied and I got it!
Any advice to other students considering doing the scholarship, AFS, the application process. Any advice you want to give to them if you are just thinking about doing it?
I would definitely say plan ahead. I found out about it very last minute and I had about eight hours to finish my application, after I found out about the scholarship. So I was very rushed. But I think definitely plan ahead, figure out where you want to go and what your plans are for the future and everything and if it looks like a good idea then definitely go for it.