It wasn’t the first time Henry Young ’25 had been outside of the country. But it was the first time traveling somewhere he always dreamed of visiting—a place that the Philosophy, Politics, and Economics (PPE) major and rhetoric minor says changed him.
“I’m certainly not the same person I was before I left in August of 2023,” said Young, who studied abroad at the University of Aberdeen in Scotland his junior year.
He spent the fall semester studying “ideas that are core to PPE” and visited the places and institutions where several thinkers and theorists, like Adam Smith and David Hume, taught. He participated in courses that dove into the history of Gaels, an ethnolinguistic group native to Ireland. He took scenic train rides with views of the North Sea to explore historic cities of Edinburgh, Glasgow, Inverness, and countless other smaller cities and villages.
Most significantly, Young said, he learned the importance of getting to experience things that are different from where you grew up and spend your time.
“Studying abroad has made me become a much better and more open-minded person, both in terms of academics and my worldview,” Young said. “You realize quickly that you certainly can find something you have in common with just about everyone. It’s important to experience other places, other cultures, and learn from them as well as their perspectives on things.”
None of those experiences would have been possible without the support of Ray ’78 and Anne LaDriere who established the Ray LaDriere and Anne LaDriere Study Abroad Endowment Fund.
“This was a once in a lifetime opportunity that I was able to experience to the fullest extent thanks to this scholarship,” Young said. “I would like to sincerely thank Mr. and Mrs. LaDriere who helped make my study aboard experience possible.”
Since 2019, five Wabash students have been recipients of the Ray LaDriere and Anne LaDriere Study Abroad Endowment Fund.
The couple established the Fund during the Giant Steps Campaign as a way to celebrate their own immersive experiences and to help Wabash students foster a love of travel and global diversity.
“When you study abroad and you interact with new people and new cultures, it broadens your mind,” said Ray, who studied at Harlaxton College in Lincolnshire, England, his junior year.
“You realize how good and nice people are,” added Ray’s wife, Anne, who also studied abroad at Harlaxton College as a student at the University of California, Los Angeles. “It really opens your mind to the possibilities of what is out there when diverse people work, play, and learn together.”
It was during that semester-long experience that Ray and Anne met. It was also when Ray discovered a passion for the liberal arts and gained new skills and perspectives that would impact him professionally and personally for years to come.
“I learned to think differently and ask different questions,” said Ray, who spent Monday through Thursday in the classroom studying topics including British history, Renaissance architecture, and European Union economics, and the weekends traveling and exploring different towns throughout England.
“That’s one reason Anne and I want to support studying aboard,” he continued. “I think every student can benefit tremendously from getting out of Crawfordsville and learning off-campus. There’s so much out there to explore.”
At Wabash, Ray was an economics major and member of Beta Theta Pi fraternity. After graduating summa cum laude with Phi Beta Kappa honors in 1978, he earned his JD from the Vanderbilt University School of Law. He is a member of the Wabash Board of Trustees and chairs the Board’s Budget and Finance Committee. He recently retired as general counsel of Locke Lord LLP in Dallas, Texas, and works as a professor at UNT Dallas College of Law, offering mentorship to aspiring attorneys.
After earning a bachelor’s degree in communications studies in 1978, Anne worked in the hotel industry before becoming a stay-at-home mom to her and Ray’s three children, Mary, Megan, and David. She was appointed to the University of Evansville’s Harlaxton Alumni Advisory Board in 2023 and actively volunteers around the Dallas community at large.
“As a member of Evansville’s Harlaxton Alumni Advisory Board, I get to meet with students who come back from studying abroad, and every single one of them says they were a little nervous leaving, but came back with confidence and an ‘I can do anything’ attitude,” Anne said. “You hit challenges but you learn to roll with the punches. There’s a lot of everyday life skills—communication, teamwork, resilience—that you learn by studying abroad.”
Around 25% of Wabash students will have participated in some sort of off-campus study by the time they graduate.
The Ray LaDriere and Anne LaDriere Study Abroad Endowment Fund supports Wabash students interested in studying anywhere around the world, with first preference going to those who plan to study at Harlaxton College.
“We want to make sure that the scholarship goes to students who want to broaden their horizons, but might not be able to do so without a little help,” Ray said. “Our study abroad experiences truly changed us. It impacted our worldviews, our passions, helped our marriage and how we raised our family. We want Wabash students to have those same opportunities.”
Hayden Kammer ’24, a psychology major and theater minor, studied abroad at Harlaxton College during the spring semester of his junior year.
“This was my first time out of the country,” said the Schererville, Indiana, native who is currently living in Riga, Latvia, conducting research as a Fulbright Scholar at the Baltic International Academy.
Kammer participated in four classes at Harlaxton: Shakespeare, Abnormal Psychology, Marriage and Family, and an independent study in history. Most of the learning was done outside of the classroom, he said, as Harlaxton’s class schedule was designed for students to travel on the weekends, similar to Ray’s experience.
“This opportunity to visit new countries on such a rapid basis really excited me, and to better understand the culture of each place I planned to travel to, I did a dive into the history,” he said. “This helped me learn so much more about the world around me, and it also helped me find similarities and differences between cultures.”
Without the Ray LaDriere and Anne LaDriere Study Abroad Endowment Fund, Kammer said it would have been difficult for him to afford studying in England.
“The generosity granted to me has been the fundamental start of my journey onto my cultural understanding,” Kammer said. “Without this scholarship, I wouldn’t have been able to go through the extremely deep personal journey of maturing and forming my identity. I am so thankful for Mr. and Mrs. LaDriere investing in my education.”
Whether it’d be funding a trip or supporting other Wabash initiatives or programs, the LaDrieres hope to inspire other alumni and friends to “pay it forward.”
“Think about when you were younger and all that other people—alumni, professors, professionals in your industry—did to mentor and help you, and how much Wabash College shaped your life and career,” Ray said. “Wouldn’t you want to give back to the next generation?”