When Ann (Rauch) Little first heard about Semester at Sea (then called “World Campus Afloat”) in her sophomore year of college in 1972, she didn’t hesitate to join the next possible voyage, especially with a friend from high school, Diane (Simpkins) Bordoni, also sailing as her ship roommate. For Ann, it was a “life-changing” experience going on a six-day safari in Kenya and Tanzania, seeing the impacts of poverty in India, and growing to understand the devastation of the apartheid regime in South Africa. Also on board the Fall 1972 voyage was John Tymitz, and his wife Dixie, on their very first voyage as faculty. John Tymitz has continued to be active in many roles with Semester at Sea, committing 51 years of service ever since that first voyage.
Upon returning from her voyage, Ann graduated from Cal Poly University (San Luis Obispo, CA), where she met and married her husband, Gaylen. They continued to remain in the area and raised two daughters who also had opportunities to sail on Semester at Sea. Fast forward more than four decades and Semester at Sea once again made an appearance on Ann’s radar. Sadly, in 2013, her husband Gaylen passed away, and Ann was settling into life as a widower. Around 2018, she received a letter from ISE inviting her to sail as a Lifelong Learner. “I hadn’t even known that was a possibility,” Ann said. The idea simmered in Ann’s mind for some time, and, “when the time felt right,” Ann decided to sail again on the Fall 2019 Voyage. This time, she was a little more apprehensive to join. She would not know anyone on the ship – with the exception of John Tymitz – who would be sailing again as the Executive Dean! Part of her motivation to join a voyage this time was to be an observer. “I wanted to be a fly on the wall and watch the students. I am fascinated with the young – and, as a SAS alumni, I wanted to know if the students of today would fully engage and really ‘get’ what Semester at Sea is all about.” She was pleased to find Semester at Sea as she’d left it some 4 decades before. “I was so excited to see students engaged in playing games, having conversations, and studying together on the ship,” Ann said. “It was my personal joy to observe kids having a sense of freedom from technology and really getting to know one another.”
But, the deeper story here is that the night before the ship sailed from Amsterdam, Ann began to have doubts about going on this journey alone. She began to question “Do I really belong here?” After docking at the ship’s first port in Gdansk, Poland, there was a mass exodus of passengers. Ann said, “I was sitting in my room, and said a personal prayer to both ‘God and Gaylen’ (her late husband), asking for a sign of confirmation. Do I belong on the ship, and is there a reason I’m here?”
Moments later, Ann went up to the Lido Restaurant for lunch, where she sat alone, questioning. Within minutes, a woman appeared and asked to sit at Ann’s table. She then learned the woman’s name: first name Gaye, middle name Lynn: this was Gaye Lynn DiGregorio, the voyage’s Academic Advisor/ Registrar. In that moment, Gaye’s name, of course, served as an uncanny reference to Gaylen (Ann’s late husband). Ann smiled at the sign she needed to stay, and she went on to enjoy every moment of the voyage.
Gaye and Ann became fast friends. In her role on the ship, Gaye worked closely with the voyage’s Gap Year and First-Generation Students. It was through this connection that Ann got to know many of these students on the ship. “I’d never fully understood how challenging it might be to a First Generation or Gap Year college student trying to navigate the unique setting of Semester at Sea.” Upon returning from the Fall 2019 Voyage, Ann made a five-year commitment to scholarships for Gap Year and First-Generation students: 2 scholarships per semester in the amount of $10,000 each, to honor her deep respect for the program, and her newfound appreciation for this particular group of SAS students.
The wonderful thank-you letters Ann has received from her scholarship recipients have inspired her to continue her scholarship gifts, and she has now committed to another five years of funding. “I am filled with so much joy when I hear how their scholarship helped them and how much they loved their voyages,” Ann said. She even stays in touch with several of her scholarship recipients, including Charlyn ‘Charlie’ Maria Garcia, who sailed on the Spring 2022 Voyage. Charlie – who was working three jobs and a position as a Resident Advisor at her home university to save for Semester at Sea – was a recipient of one of Ann’s scholarships. It was actually Charlie’s birthday when she found out she’d won the scholarship. “I cried when I received the email from SAS that I was a recipient of the ‘Gaylen Little Family Gap Year and First Generation Student Scholarship.’ I was having dinner on my 21st birthday when I got the news,” Charlie wrote. “I would not have been able to receive the knowledge of each of these countries or make the memories I have without [this] generous donation. I feel proud to be a first-generation student and this has opened a lot of doors for me and my future. I can’t wait to donate as an alum to support future voyagers who are in the same position as I was.”
Charlie has since graduated as a double major in Broadcast Journalism and TV-Video Production. She then spent eight months as a photographer for the Disney College Program at Walt Disney World, and she is now a retail supervisor and applying to various jobs in the news industry. Charlie hopes to return to Semester at Sea someday as a videographer. In so many ways, then, Ann’s scholarship gifts will continue to pay it forward, benefiting generations of gap year and first-generation students for years to come.
