Campus Visit 1 - Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

As I mentioned before, after spending a week in Washington, DC in a very intense training, each group went to a campus visit. The campus clusters we had were New Jersey, Kansas, Mississippi, and Nebraska. I went to the New Jersey Campus Cluster.


We were the only group that didn't need to fly to the campus visit. Instead we took the train. We really loved the idea of taking the train, but it was quite an adventure. After getting all our heavy luggage inside the train, and sitting comfortably at our seats we heard that there was a problem with the train. Well, almost one hour later, they announced our train would not depart and there was another train just about to leave. So, we had to run to catch the other train, and we got quite a workout by running and lifting weight (our luggage). Thanks the guys help us!

It was time to let people know that we would be late by an hour. And guess what? We couldn't reach anyone. After a couple minutes we could finally talk to our campus cluster coordinator. We arrived in New Jersey around 9pm, and Nancy from Rutgers University was waiting for us. She dropped us at the hotel, and we barely left our luggage in our rooms and came down to find a place to eat. We were so glad we found a Mexican Restaurant and we all had a delicious burrito!

We started our day at Rutgers with a delicious breakfast and a very warm reception from the representatives not only from Rutgers, but also from the other universities we would visit.

You'll be able to have a feeling of how our day at Rutgers went by watching the video. Our day at Rutgers was very busy, but very fruitful.  At the end of the day, we had a very nice reception at the VP for Management and Enrollment's house.

I hope you enjoy the video!
Campus Visit 1 - Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

I bet you thought that I had finished my blog, but I'm not done yet. I still want to share all the moments I had during the USBT program. So I have been creating videos. This first one is about the week we spent in Washington, DC. I'm almost done with the second one that talks about the 1st campus visit in New Jersey. So you'll be able to learn about the campus visits (and this time the promise is for real!)


The program was followed by a Social Media Workshop and ended at the end of April. I can't believe it's already June. Time is flying so fast that scares me... Being back to the office after almost a month away from the office is not easy. I'm still trying to catch up on some things.


Despite this crazyness, I'm so happy that I can see the results. My advising sessions are not the same anymore. I feel much more confident, and I have so much more experience to share... .


I hope you enjoy the videos and stay tuned because the next ones are coming up soon :)

To watch the video, just click on the link below.

USBT video 1 - Washington, DC

USBT Social Media Workshop - Best Practices

Hi everybody,

Right now, we are at the Social Media Workshop in Flagstaff. And at this exact moment, I’m participating in a panel with other three colleagues to talk about practical tips using social media.  I’m doing a demonstration on how to post on a blog as well as redirecting the post to facebook and twitter.

What's going on now?

You still have not gotten enough of what USBT is. So far, I reported on the first week of the program, the second week is all about campus visits, and the third week is just about to finish this Wednesday. Don't worry, I'll tell you how everything was during my campus cluster (New Jersey), but I really wanted to share with you some pictures of our closing dinner tonight and our graduation. Yes! We graduated from USBT. Big thanks to the US State Department and to College Board that organized this wonderful professional training. As one of our friends said "this training is life changing", and I'm already missing it. 

Day 5 - Wednesday, April 14th

Our last day in Washington, DC was very busy. We had our second round of Best Practices Presentations, and I had my presentation on "Effective and Innovative Ways to Promote your Center". I really enjoyed working on this presentation. Even though it was a short presentation 6-8 minutes, I spent some hours trying to get as much information as I could and that would benefit my colleagues. In addition to exploring the powerpoint resources. In Brazil, we have been working hard on promoting the EducationUSA, and we have been developing a lot of materials to get the word out.


I think the Best Practices Presentations are really good and we learn so much! The other presenters shared them experiences with "Interacting with Semester Abroad Students", "Interacting with American Study Abroad Students", "Intern Program", "Increasing Visibility Using Innovative Tools", "Specialized Sessions", "Time Management Tools", and "Effective Collaboration with the U.S. Embassy.

After the presentations, we had representatives from TOEFL & GRE, SAT, ACT, GMAT, and LSAC talking about the testing program updates. The conversation continued through lunch time. And then, it was time to get our luggage and go to our campus cluster. We are 20 advisers, and we were divided to go to the following clusters: New Jersey, Mississippi, Nebraska, and Kansas. I went to the New Jersey cluster, and we went from Washington DC to New Jersey by train. It was quite an interesting experience. After putting all our heavy luggage on the train and sit downs, we were advised that there was a problem with our train. Finally after almost an hours, we were told that our train would not depart, and we could take another train that was departing in 15 minutes. There we went, five of us, getting our heavy luggage again and running to catch the next train. But at the end, we made it to New Jersey, and Nancy from Rutgers was there waiting for us, and she took us to the hotel. I don't need to tell you that we were starving...but we found a very nice Mexican restaurant close to the hotel. :)

Day 4 - Tuesday, April 13th

All right. I'm back and I'll be able to share the other days we had on our USBT Program.

Our 4th day was at the State Deparment, and we discussed a lot of issues regarding the services expected of EducationUSA centers, and we all had an opportunity to reflect on our duties. We wrote our job descriptions as well as the services we offer at our centers. Then we had a presentation on some resources available for us that we will certainly use when we go back to our centers.On the first half of the day, we have also discussed outreach to US Higher Education, and we talked about student visa and SEVIS update.

After a quick break for lunch, we had a lecture on EducationUSA and study abroad oportunities such as the Gilman Scholarships (http://exchange.state.gov/globalexchanges/gilmanshcolarshipprogram.html). This discussion was followed by a presentation on "Who cares about educational advising?" and we had a really nice group discussion.

As a final activity at the State Department, we had small group appointments with our Regional Officers. We talked about issues as well as activities we have been doing in our countries.

Then we went to the College Board where we talked about conference tips and we had campus/conference group briefing.

All right, April 14th is our last day in Washington, DC, so packing time this evening to depart to the campus visits. My campus visit is New Jersey, and others advisers will be in Kansas, Mississippi, and Nebraska.

Campus Visits

Hello everybody,


I know you're dying to know what is going on here. We're on campus visits right now, and unfortunately we don't have access to the internet. It's 10:50pm, and I'm in Starbucks which is closing in 10 minutes. I just wanted to let you know that we left Washington, DC last week, and we're having a great time here in New Jersey visiting the schools. It's so sad the campus visits are almost over, and we'll be heading to New Orleans on Wednesday.


As soon as I have more access to the internet, I'll give you details of every single day.


I can't wait to share all the news with you.

Day 3 - Monday, April 12th

After a day off on Sunday, and enjoying some really nice weather and some shopping at Pentagon City, we started our 3rd day of the USBT program.


Today we had our sessions at the building where all Associations in US Higher Education are housed.We started our day with a presentation on accreditation, then we had an Association Mini-fair where we had the chance to meet representatives from the AACRAO, AASCU, ACE, AAC&U, A-P-L-U, CEA, CGS, NAFEO, NAGAP, NAICU, NASPAA. (a message for the advisers - No, I'll not explain the acronyms here. If you do not one, I'll leave this homework for you...). After this great networking experience, we had our first round of USBT Best Practice Presentations. There were five presentations on using effective ways of using volunteers, alumni, and interns. The advisers presented many interesting ideas, and I'm already thinking how I can adapt some of them when I go back to my center.


Afterwards, we went back to the hotel, enjoyed another great lunch with our Program Officer for WHA and we also took a picture with him. In addition we made a short presentation about our centers to the group while identifying on a big world map where our center is located.

Right after we had a group discussions on Ethics in which we had the chance to analyze some case scenarios and share our thoughts on the issues involving Ethics in EducationUSA.


Before our last session, we had a break an took a official group picture.

Our last session was about USBT Effective Management Workshop and we learned and discussed about interactive activities we can use in our presentations. Throughtout the entire presentation we experience some of the activities that were mentioned. So we got to see how they work!

What another wonderful day! I'm loving it! :)

Day 2 - Saturday, April 10th

We started our day with a continental breakfast and getting to know more about the  USBTers. After we talked about how journaling is an crucial tool during the program and after it. We shared some ideas about journaling, so some people have a notebook where they get all important information written on and this notebook is a very good resource for them. I think taking notes are essential too, and as I'm very visual, I like to highlight important facts or have information into categories. As for example, while watching the presentations, I took notes, and when I had an idea, I wrote it on a separate sheet of paper which I titled ideas, so throughtout the program, I'll be able to list my ideas in the same part of my notebook. Another part I created was for questions, so whenever I have a question to ask when I'm back to my center, I'll have a session just with my doubts.


We've also learned some networking skills that we'll be able to use during our campus visits and also during the conferences we'll attend. After a short break for coffee, we worked in groups to discuss some difficult questions our advisees ask us. We talked about financial aid, visa issues, and marketing US education. It's great to hear what our advisers all over the world have to say and share!


Right after the challenging questions, we received a training on how to use a flip camera. During the campus visits we'll be interviewing students and faculty as well as filming these interviews. We'll try to gather as much videos as we can in order to get more resources for our website. 


Do you think it's over? No it's not, but we had our lunch break, and we enjoyed very delicious sandwiches. Just after it, we have a very interesting presentation on American Culture, and we had reflections on the American Culture values which help us understand the competitiveness, the independence, the self-reliance, and other values the Americans have. After this session, we'll be able to help our students understand why the Americans act the way they do.


We finished our training with wonderful suggestions for the weekend. I went to my room right after we were done, but I could not stay in for much longer. I called some friends and went sightseeing. We started walking and we saw the White House, The Japanese Festival that was happening here, the Capitol Hill, and some other buildings and monuments in DC. And guess what? I took a picture with President Obama and his wife! The weather was great and we had such a nice walk around town. To finish our day, some of us went out for dinner at a nearby restaurant.

Day 1 - the USBT program started

Today was the first day of the program. We all met at 8am to go the US State Department. 
We started with introductions and we are a very diverse group. The advisers represent the EducationUSA in many countries: China, Colombia, Ecuador, Georgia, Hungary, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Morocco, Nepal, New Zeland, Peru, Poland, Russia, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Tajikistan, Thailand, and Turkey. 


During the first part of the day we had an overview of the USBT program, learned about the relationship between the US State Department and EducationUSA, also talked about the ECA/A/S/A's mission, the EducationUSA network, standards, training and professional development programs. Then, we had a presentation addressing Strategic Planning in which we talked about Public Diplomacy and how a Strategic Plan is structured. We were able to see examples of Strategic Plans from India, Brazil and Hungary. 


After this first half of the day, we went to a wonderful lunch, enjoyed a terrific view of the city, and had a pleasant walk to the Einsten's Memorial monument.

After lunch we returned to our program, and learned about the importance of the Educational Advising to Posts. We have also had staff from Fulbright discussing ways of using American Fulbrighters; from Alumni sharing ways of working with alumni and resources available; from Information Resource Centers and talked about American Corners; a person from the Office of English Language Programs sharing the programs available for teachers; another staff form Youth programs; and from IIP Publications.


I learned a lot during this first day, and started writing down all the ideas I had. In addition to all this great training we are receiving, we are meeting a lot of people who have been wonderful.Tomorrow we'll be together again for the second day of the program. It's just the beginning :)

Arriving in DC

I arrived yesterday in Washington DC. I'm glad I had a nice flight. It was easier than I thought to find Lurka from Peru at the airport in DC. We went to the hotel, left our luggage in the room, and went straight to the mall at Pentagon City. There, we had lunch and went shopping. After walking a lot, we stopped to have a wonderful vanilla milkshake.

 Then, we came back to the hotel to meet the some of the College Board staff. We receive a binder with the program details and other important information.We also got our package from our Campus Visit cluster and had the chance to meet some of the other USBTers. 
Lurka and I walked around the hotel and then went back to rest. I read the material we received from College Board and went to sleep early to be ready for the USBT.

Hooray!! Time to go!

Do you want to know what was the hardest assignment we had? 

For me was to pack light. 

But I guess I could accomplish it! One luggage and one backpack :)

I have to assume, it wasn't easy!

Now, tell me. Is there a way I won't be able to find my luggage? 

Nobody will notice I work for EducationUSA, right?

Well, it's time to go, and I'm flying tomorrow night. I can't believe it's already time. Back in December it seemed so far away... 

Wait until my next post that I'll write when I arrive in DC. 

The USBT starts in a week!

Dear Friends,

Time is flying so fast... I'll be in Washington DC in a week when the USBT Program starts, and finally meet my other USBT collegues and the team that has been working hard to organize this program. The program is starting in Washington DC, then we'll go on campus visits, and I'm going to the New Jersey cluster. After I'll participate at the AACRAO Conference, finishing the USBT in Flagstaff with a Social Media Workshop. As I'll be so close to Utah, I'll spend a few days to revisit the University of Utah where I studied, and also see my friends.

After months of preparation, I finished my USBT Best Practice Presentation today and I'm working on my presentation for the AACRAO Conference. There is still so much to do...

Our last email has just arrived. Now we have information about our first days in DC. By looking at the whole schedule, we think of how much we'll learn and how intense the program will be.

I can't wait to be there!!! :)

Why creating this Blog?

Hi everybody,

Welcome to the USBT Experience blog!

I'm Bianca Macena, an EducationUSA Adviser at Fulbright Commission in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. In 10 days I'll be in Washington DC for my USBT Program. I received this great news on Dec 28 which was a wonderful birthday present. Since then, I've been preparing myself. I've talked to many other advisers to get information about the program, but it's still hard to picture how this program will be. So, I decided to create this blog, so that in addition to keep my colleges updated about what I'm doing, I'll be able to share my experience with advisers who will go to USBT in the future.

I'm very excited and looking forward to exploring all the opportunities and give my best to the program.