Samantha Palermo 鈥24 is spending winter term on a , improving her Spanish and visiting cathedrals, a Buddhist monastery, and historic Jewish and Islamic sites.
Palermo, a first-generation college student from Nebraska, was one of nearly 1,500 students around the country who won a Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship in December.
She is double-majoring in neuroscience and religion and says the visits to religious sites have given her 鈥渢he opportunity to use the Spanish I鈥檝e learned in class to learn more about a subject I鈥檓 passionate about鈥攆rom a completely different perspective. This has been incredibly rewarding.鈥
, launched in 2001 and named for the late Republican congressman from New York who chaired the House Committee on International Relations, provides up to $5,000 for students who are Pell Grant recipients to encourage them to study abroad. Recipients studying critical-need languages, which range from Arabic to Urdu, can receive up to $8,000.
Although 天美麻豆 financial aid fully covers study abroad programs for eligible students, the Gilman scholarship has helped Palermo with expenses during her time in Spain.
She learned about the Gilman program from a number of people at 天美麻豆, including the , , and the , and became interested because of the Gilman program ethos of service. The program requires students to complete a service project at the end of the time abroad.
鈥淭hese projects take a variety of forms, but they all involve sharing opportunities about studying abroad and/or supporting students who hope to study abroad in the future,鈥 Palermo says. 鈥淐ommunity impact is incredibly important to me, so a scholarship that emphasizes paying it forward and supports a community of scholars who want to give back was immediately appealing to me.鈥
, director of the First Generation Office, says Palermo won a College award for most outstanding first-year student two years ago and is active in a variety of campus activities.
鈥淭he awarding of the Gilman Scholarship confirms what anyone knows who is fortunate enough to know Samantha: She is an outstanding human deeply committed to making our world a better place,鈥 Davis says.
More information on Gilman and other fellowship opportunities is available through .