{"id":53,"date":"2022-08-16T16:51:46","date_gmt":"2022-08-16T16:51:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/success-stories\/?p=53"},"modified":"2024-03-05T15:49:01","modified_gmt":"2024-03-05T15:49:01","slug":"oscar-oldbury-swift-international-exchange-student-from-across-the-pond-breaks-swimming-records-at-wcsu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/success-stories\/2022\/08\/16\/oscar-oldbury-swift-international-exchange-student-from-across-the-pond-breaks-swimming-records-at-wcsu\/","title":{"rendered":"Oscar Oldbury-Swift, international exchange student from \u2018across the pond\u2019 breaks swimming records at WCSU"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Oscar

Oscar Oldbury-Swift<\/p><\/div>\n

Oscar Oldbury-Swift, a 22-year-old international exchange student from Manchester, England, came to\u00a0Western Connecticut State University<\/a>\u00a0through the\u00a0International Exchange Student Program<\/a>\u00a0(ISEP) to study business \u2014 \u00a0and ended up breaking collegiate and personal best swimming records as a member of the\u00a0WestConn Men\u2019s Swimming & Diving Team<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Before coming to Danbury, Oldbury-Swift majored in International Business Management at\u00a0University of Chester<\/a>, which, like WCSU, originated as a teacher\u2019s college before becoming a public university. He chose to undertake his international college experience at WCSU because of its proximity to New York City and the fact that he could continue his business management studies at WCSU\u2019s\u00a0Ancell School of Business<\/a>. Considered a senior at WCSU, Oldbury-Swift will have one more year of study when he returns home to finish his degree because this year abroad is considered a \u201csandwich year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Oldbury-Swift previously swam at the national level in the U.K at age16. He had not competed much since then, and decided to get involved again once he arrived at WCSU.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I came here, I thought I\u2019d give it a go and if nothing else, it would be another group of friends here for me,\u201d he said. \u201cLooking back now as we have reached the end of the season, it has been one of the best things I ever did,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

In February, Oldbury-Swift shattered the school record in the 200-yard individual medley relay to lead the WestConn men\u2019s and women\u2019s swim teams on the second day of the Little East Conference championships in Boston. The men also broke school records in the team 200 freestyle and 400 medley relays.<\/p>\n

Upon returning to campus from the LEC competition in Boston, Oldbury-Swift emailed ISEP Coordinator Donna Warner to share his good news. Warner is the primary liaison for the ISEP exchange students and helps them acclimate to the campus community and being in the United States.<\/p>\n

\u201cPersonally, I was over the moon with my swims, breaking my own 200m IM record by a further 8 seconds, breaking the 400m IM record by 13 seconds and my own 200m breaststroke record by a further 9 seconds,\u201d he wrote. \u201cAs a men\u2019s team, we broke three relay records, bringing my total to six university records! On top of this I made six final events and had two podium finishes.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to well-deserved bragging rights, Oldbury-Swift\u2019s record-breaking performance earned him a\u00a0feature story<\/a>\u00a0on the WestConn Athletics web site, and a little notoriety around campus.<\/p>\n

When he\u2019s not in business classes or the O\u2019Neill Center pool, Oldbury-Swift enjoys going away on weekends to see more of the U.S. while he\u2019s here. He\u2019s visited Vermont, New Mexico and California so far, with upcoming trips to Chicago, Las Vegas and Arizona. Oldbury-Swift also enjoys participating in\u00a0Program Activities Council<\/a>\u00a0(PAC) events on campus such as Bonfire Night, ice skating and his favorite PAC event: BINGO, which he hopes to win at least once before he returns to the U.K.<\/p>\n

ISEP Coordinator Warner said that Oldbury-Swift likes to collect t-shirts when he attends campus events, and they\u2019ll undoubtedly make good souvenirs when he returns home.<\/p>\n

Warner said the best part of her job is making the international exchange students feel welcome on campus. \u201cI enjoy meeting students from different countries,\u201d she said. \u201cPeople showed such kindness to me when I studied abroad, and I want to pay it forward to the students studying abroad here at WCSU.\u201d<\/p>\n

The kindness is appreciated.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll the staff members at WCSU have been super nice and accommodating to make sure I have the best experience during my one year abroad,\u201d Oldbury-Swift said. \u201cI will always think of the memories I created at WCSU and hope to return from time to time as a proud alumnus to see old friends.\u201d<\/p>\n

To learn more about ISEP, go to\u00a0www.wcsu.edu\/isep\/<\/a>\u00a0or contact the Office of Public Relations at\u00a0pr@wcsu.edu<\/a>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Western Connecticut State University changes lives by providing all students with a high-quality education that fosters their growth as individuals, scholars, professionals and leaders in a global society. Our vision: To be widely recognized as a premier public university with outstanding teachers and scholars who prepare students to contribute to the world in a meaningful way.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Oscar Oldbury-Swift, a 22-year-old international exchange student from Manchester, England, came to\u00a0Western Connecticut State University\u00a0through the\u00a0International Exchange Student Program\u00a0(ISEP) to study business \u2014 \u00a0and ended up breaking collegiate and personal best swimming records as a member of the\u00a0WestConn Men\u2019s Swimming …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":41,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-53","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-success-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/success-stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/success-stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/success-stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/success-stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/41"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/success-stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/success-stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/success-stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/success-stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/success-stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}