Study abroad's latest advertising push turns to YouTube

George Mason University's Center for Global Education has a new mode of advertisement in addition to its fliers, info sessions and class pitches: a short 'lil YouTube video.

The video, uploaded on Feb. 28, features a somewhat restless student fidgeting with textbooks before shifting to shots of a study abroad program in Kenya. Scenes of safaris – hurray, giraffes and elephants! – flash across  the screen through the "lens" of a smartphone or iPod before returning to the student. He smirks and keeps working.

The ad concludes with a catchy slogan, "Where learning lives." (According to CGE Marketing Coordinator Kevin Stoy, that's not a new slogan for the center's study programs. It's just part of the video—at least, "for now").

Guy Combes provided the outdoors footage from a 2011 winter break program. GMU-TV and Rob Segaar are credited for the editorial and creative work.

Photos from recent study abroad programs are on display in the Johnson Center Gallery 123 this week as part of Connect2Mason and CGE's Global Photo Contest. Entries will soon be displayed online on C2M and voting will open to determine the contest winners.