Two Marshall University students have won Benjamin A. Gilman Scholarships to study abroad. Gilman Scholars receive up to $5,000 to apply towards their study abroad or internship program costs with additional funding available for the study of a critical language overseas.
Olivia Revels-Strother and Tatiana Schrader are two of 1,100 American undergraduate students from across the United States selected to receive the Gilman scholarship to study or intern abroad during the summer of 2019. More than 5,000 applications were received.
Revels-Strother, a junior majoring in psychology, received a scholarship to study in Spain for the Summer 2019 term. Revels-Strother works on the Huntington campus as a resident advisor, and is also a member of the Honors College and Society of Black Scholars. She hopes to study in Spain in order to increase her language skills, as she wants to eventually work with the State Department as a forensic psychologist and translator.
“It is my goal to help in any way I possibly can—which is why I want to study abroad,” she said. “Studying abroad will not only strengthen my current knowledge of the language, but also help me to become more well-rounded.“
Schrader, a senior double majoring in environmental science and health sciences, also received the scholarship for Summer 2019 study. She will spend her summer in Tanzania working in orphanages and HIV/AIDS clinics. Schrader says she is looking forward to using what she has learned here at Marshall in her summer abroad.
“I am incredibly excited, to gain hands-on fieldwork experience through this service learning practicum,” Schrader said.
Schrader is vice president of the Marshall University Environmental Science Association, a member of the Honors College and a Yeager Scholar. She is a past participant in a Fulbright Summer Institute, as well as a recipient of a Hispanic Scholarship Fund Scholarship. She plans to combine her interests in public health and the environment by pursuing graduate degrees in environmental and human health, with a concentration on plastic pollution and its effect on human and wildlife health.
The Gilman Scholarship supports American undergraduate students of limited financial means to study or intern abroad and, since 2001, has enabled more than 25,000 outstanding Americans of diverse backgrounds to engage in a meaningful educational experience abroad. The program has successfully broadened U.S. participation in study abroad, while emphasizing countries and regions where fewer Americans traditionally study.
The Gilman program is sponsored by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and is supported in its implementation by the Institute of International Education (IIE). For more information about the Gilman scholarship, visit its website at https://www.gilmanscholarship.org or contact Mallory Carpenter, program manager of national scholarships at Marshall, by phone at 304-696-2475 or by e-mail at Mallory.carpenter@marshall.edu.
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Photos: Olivia Revels-Strother (left) and Tatiana Schrader have received Benjamin A. Gilman Scholarships to study abroad.