Jasmine Carter ’19 and Alexus Smith ’19 have been named winners of the U.S. Department of State’s Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship, which will enable them to study abroad this spring.
Both students are part of a group selected from a pool of nearly 3,000 applicants to receive this highly competitive award. Carter and Smith are heading to the United Kingdom for Spring Term and will be participating in the Hollins Abroad – London program. Smith will be blogging about her experience as a disabled traveler and interviewing disabled Londoners.
The Gilman Scholarship Program encourages students to study and intern in a diverse array of countries and world regions. Since its inception in 2001 by the Institute of International Education, the program has been successful in supporting students who have been historically underrepresented in education abroad. The scholarship is named after the late congressman Benjamin A. Gilman from New York, who served in the House of Representatives for 30 years, chaired the House Foreign Relations Committee, and supported the establishment of the program by the International Academic Opportunity Act of 2000.
“Study abroad is a special experience for every student who participates,” Gilman said. “Living and learning in a vastly different environment of another nation not only exposes our students to alternate views, but also adds an enriching social and cultural experience. It also provides our students with the opportunity to return home with a deeper understanding of their place in the world, encouraging them to be a contributor, rather than a spectator in the international community.”
