Student of the World - ASUW President Brian Schueler
Growing up in a family that often traveled, Associated Students of the University of Wyoming (ASUW) President Brian Schueler became interested in thinking beyond the horizons of his hometown in Buffalo, Wyo. It is this thinking that eventually led him to UW, where he is now a senior in international studies and economics. Although this didn’t initially take him beyond Wyoming, it wasn't long before he was traveling the world and making international connections.
“Within my first six months at UW, I got to go to this dinner and meet Mikhail Gorbachev, Alan Simpson—a famous senator from Wyoming—and a lot of other very important leaders,” Schueler says. “That was just the coolest thing to think that, as a freshman, I am able to get this opportunity to hobnob with people who will be in history books for a very long time.”
Traveling the globe: In the years following, Schueler traveled to Seoul, South Korea, for a month with the UW Bahrom International Program in global and area studies and then to China on a faculty-led trip with the Chinese language program at UW. Most recently, Schueler was awarded the Chinese Ambassador’s Wyoming Scholarship, which allowed him to stay in Beijing for a year and study the Chinese language.
“I would say I’ve had a rich diversity of experiences through UW International Programs and events happening on campus or around the world,” Schueler says.
A new perspective on home: Schueler not only broadened his horizons beyond Wyoming and the United States, but he also gained a new appreciation for home: “I think you come back to Wyoming and realize that this is such a special place. In the immediate future, I want to go abroad, but for the long term, Wyoming is home.”
As Schueler prepares to graduate in spring 2016, he reflects on his education at UW and his plans for the future: “My hope is to go into international business or diplomacy, and if my Chinese can be at a business level, then it becomes a strategic asset for my career in the future.”
