![\"Campo_1\"](\"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/rring\/files\/2014\/07\/Campo_1.jpg\")
<\/a>Did you know that 60% of Trinity students travel abroad at some point during their college career?\u00a0 And did you know that it all started in the 1970\u2019s as an experimental little summer program in Rome?\u00a0 The highs and the lows of this first year are all documented in the papers of Dr. Michael Campo, J.J. McCook Professor of Languages, Emeritus; former Director of the Barbieri Center for Italian Studies, and founder of study away at Trinity College.<\/p>\nOn September 2, 1969, the Curricular Committee voted to approve Dr. Campo’s proposal to establish a Trinity College Summer Program in Rome. \u00a0Three days later, the faculty concurred, and Trinity’s first study abroad program was on the way to becoming a reality. \u00a0\u00a0According to the proposal, “Rome [was] a natural center for such a learning experience,\u201d but it was such a “natural center” that Trinity had to compete with several other schools that already offered programs there.\u00a0 In order to stand out from the pack and attract the 200 students needed to make the endeavor a financial success, Trinity advertised a “broad diversity of course offerings taught by an able faculty,” offering classes like “The Architecture of the City of Rome,” “Elements of Drawing and Design,” “Introductory Italian,” and “Latin Literature in Translation,” as well as an archeology program that allowed students to participate in a real dig. \u00a0 Lest the very idea of the dig discourage enrollment in the latter, though, Dr. Campo reassured the students: “Do not get apprehensive about the digging,\u201d he wrote, \u201c- there will be just enough to give you an idea of excavation techniques. \u00a0It will not be strenuous at all…There will, if course, be good shower facilities at the camp.”<\/p>\n