Junior Morgan Gaskin, hoping to be chosen as a student representative to the SMU Board of Trustees, arrived for her interview dressed in her pajamas and fuzzy slippers. With her lucky teddy bear clutched in one hand, Gaskin sat down, leaned back and put her feet up on the desk. She was ready to begin.

Despite her attire, she would later be chosen to fill the position. Of course, none of the selection committee had seen her during the interview – it was done over an international phone call.

“I definitely did not miss being in a business suit,” she said.

Gaskin, who has spent the last semester in Copenhagen, Denmark, was one of three student trustees chosen to serve next year who conducted the entire application and interview process while outside of the country. These student trustees are only a few of the many student leaders who have spent their past semester abroad.

Junior Amanda Klasing was on a train somewhere between Switzerland and France when her interview took place.

“I received my interview slot after I had left for Spring Break, but I was in Budapest the first part of the week and had no access to e-mail,” she said. “Finally, I was in Italy and I could check my mail, but my interview time was in the middle of my train ride back home.”

The night before the interview, as she prepared to head to the train’s sleeper car, Klasing set her alarm for 2:15 a.m., just before her appointment. When the alarm jarred her awake, she took her cell phone to the train’s dining car to await the selection committee’s phone call.

2:15 a.m. The train entered into a long tunnel connecting Switzerland and France. No reception.

2:25 a.m. Klasing leaned forward glancing at her watch every few seconds and then back at her phone hoping she wouldn’t miss the call. She could barely make out a light at the end of the tunnel.

2:35 a.m. First one bar, then another lit up on her phone indicating that she once again had reception. The phone rang!

“Luckily, the committee was running behind. I finally got the call around 2:35 a.m. and finished my interview,” she said. “I was cut off by another tunnel around 2:50 a.m.”

Even with the difficulties in coordination, students such as junior Lily Shanks, who was recently named managing editor of The Daily Campus and spent the past semester in Spain, have persevered in seeking leadership positions.

“I think that the applicants may have had an easier time than the advisers,” she said. “They were the ones who weren’t able to interview us face to face. I really admire them for considering everyone’s application seriously and fairly, even though it may have proved a bit difficult.”

Although some might argue that these students are not as in-touch with the campus as those that have been in Dallas all year, Klasing disagrees.

“I think that being abroad made it difficult to express to the committee my ability to still connect with the student body. I can imagine they were hesitant to give the main position to a student who had been removed from the campus for a year,” she said.

“But I have continued to keep myself informed of the issues facing the campus and the student body.”

Kris Norvet, who has spent the past year studying in London and will serve as the editor in chief of The Daily Campus in the fall, believes that her experiences abroad have actually better prepared her to serve in this role.

“I have had the opportunity to intern at big name magazines that I just wouldn’t have had the opportunity to work for in Dallas,” she said. “Despite the fact that I have not been in The Daily Campus newsroom in a year, I feel much more confident because of my experiences while in London.”

All of these students are prepared to take the difficulties they faced and the experiences they had abroad and put them to work in their leadership roles next year.

“Let this be a reassurance to people who are contemplating going abroad,” Gaskin said. “You will not be a bum when you come back if you really want it.”