By Dan Knapp
The one-lane dirt roads of Oil Springs, Kentucky, can seem a world away from the cobblestones of Dublin, Ireland.
In those majestic Appalachian hills—where the muted scent of oil and natural gas escaping from uncapped deposits mingling with the echoes of bluegrass melodies linger in the air—young James Russell says he found himself enveloped in a world shaped by tradition and simplicity.
“Oil Springs is just a little hollow in the middle of nowhere,” Russell says, his voice tinged with nostalgia. “Not much goes on there. I see more ATVs and side-by-sides than I do cars. Pretty much everyone knows everybody.”
In his rural Johnson County home, Russell says he longed to experience the vibrant sights and sounds of other cultures. Money was tight, as it is for many in Oil Springs; Russell never imagined that his aspirations would come true until one day early last year.
“I always wanted to go abroad,” Russell says, “I just never thought I’d get the opportunity. I always thought it was cool even to see other states. Even when I first came to Lexington—coming from such a small little town—I was so amazed!
As a computer science major in UK’s Stanley and Karen Pigman College of Engineering, Russell is well aware of the myriad of schemes rampant on the internet. Last year, when he checked his inbox, he found something too good to be true.
“I randomly got an e-mail, and I was like, “This has to be a scam,’” Russell laughs. “A full paid study abroad trip for three weeks to Dublin? I thought, ‘This can’t be real.’ But then I started looking into it, and it was! I never thought I’d get to leave the U.S. Then I saw this opportunity, and I was like, ‘I can’t pass it up.’”
The study abroad opportunity was expressly for undergraduate students who are the first members of their families to attend college. Launched in 2023 and developed and administered by units within the University of Kentucky’s Office of Student Success with funding from the Kentucky Innovative Scholarship Pilot Program, Explore First allowed UK students to study in either London or Dublin for three weeks. The program is geared toward exposing undergraduates to a world of career opportunities, cultural experiences, and networking possibilities to which they might not otherwise have access.
Russell thought his chances of being accepted into the Explore First program were slim, but he held out a glimmer of hope. Much to his delight, he was not only accepted, but the experience exceeded his wildest imagination.
“When I got it, I started freaking out,” Russell laughs. “I got super excited. And then I went—it was amazing! Just being there with people from Kentucky and across the United States, who were also first-generation students who had never experienced anything like it—that was really nice.”
Russell is just one of the 60 UK students who got to participate in the study abroad opportunity, where they bonded over their shared backgrounds, often discussing the challenges of being a first-generation student. Russell says that while being the first person in his family to attend college has been daunting, having the support system at UK has made all the difference.
“The big thing for first-generation students is having a support network,” Russell explains. “I’d be lying if I said I haven’t struggled, but I think the big issue is just thinking that you're good enough because you’re around all these kids whose parents are doctors who have been through higher education. I’m coming from a background where I can talk to my parents about anything, but that doesn't always help because they don’t have the background to have all the answers.”
Along with taking in the Irish atmosphere, the first-generation study abroad groups also learned about the history and future of the country. The first-generation undergraduates visited a host of international corporations and learned about opportunities within the companies.
“I got to visit a ton of companies that I wouldn't have ordinarily learned about in my major,” Russell enthuses. “One of the cooler ones we visited was Accenture, which works with Facebook and other similar companies. We got to tour their headquarters! They walked us through their process of innovation and the way they think critically. We visited a food production company called Compass. They’re the ones that run Google’s cafeteria, and we actually went to eat breakfast at Google in Ireland! Many of these companies never would have been on my radar, so that was amazing!”
The trip proved to be a unique experience for Russell, witnessing things he had only read about in books. On a trip from Dublin to Belfast in Northern Ireland, a black cab tour driver recounted his experience in the once-divided city when neighboring Protestants and Catholics fought bitterly.
“He’d just be driving along and say things like, ‘I had to duck behind this because I was getting shot at…I remember a car bomb going off there…I remember when someone drove this car into that building and blew it up,’” Russell recounts. “He was just telling about his childhood growing up in this, and it was interesting to hear his perspective, how he talked about it, and how much that affected his childhood and stuff—just this constant war.”
Russell and a few friends flew to Edinburgh, Scotland, on a free weekend. They indulged in some Loch Ness Monster hunting and visited the iconic locations that inspired author J.K. Rawlings as she wrote the Harry Potter books, including the inspirations for Hogwarts.
Out of everything the Explore First opportunity gave to Russell, however, was the willingness to break from complacency.
“I think it just made me realize I need to get out of my comfort zone,” Russell says of the experience. “Many times, we get in this bubble where we think we're safe where we are, and we become perfectly content with what we do every single day. Then you go off and do things like this and realize that you just need to explore everything in this world—all the possibilities. I never thought I’d have this amazing time in another country. But then I got there, and it made me realize I wanted to see even more of the world.”
Russell’s quest to see the world continue to unfold. The newfound zeal for travel has changed the way Russell views his future. Although he remains resolute in his long-standing goal of making a profound impact in some way—either through the development of processes that digitally map the coal mines that surround Oil Springs or helping with the global issues of food and food storage—he’s taking time to relish in any opportunity that comes his way and broaden his horizons beyond the familiar.