Tough economic times are not discouraging students from studying abroad.Lee Rivers, Institute of International Education assistant manager of outreach and special projects, presented his organization’s study abroad scholarship program on campus Wednesday evening in an effort to promote new scholarships available.”We’re trying to diversify who’s studying abroad as well as the locations they travel to,” Rivers said.IIE offers three scholarship programs including Gilman, Fulbright and Boren awards, but Rivers focused mainly on the Gilman program.Australia and New Zealand are popular countries in which to study abroad, but Gilman favors students who choose to study in less popular areas such as Egypt or Israel.Gilman is offering more scholarships than ever before, according to its Web site.”Gilman gives over 2,000 awards for up to $5,000, and the check goes directly to the recipient,” Rivers said.Gilman is offering a new initiative for this summer that encourages students with majors that don’t typically study abroad to participate.”The STEM initiative targets science, technology, engineering and mathematics majors because they are under-represented in study abroad programs,” Rivers said.Gilman only offers scholarships to students who plan to study for at least four weeks and who are currently receiving a Federal Pell Grant.”You’re allowed to study anywhere in the world except somewhere on the U.S. Department of State Travel Warning List and Cuba,” Rivers said.Selection for the Gilman scholarship is based off the student’s ethnicity, where a student plans to study, and the diversity of the institution from which they come.”Students are not selected on a merit basis,” Rivers said.Kendra Brumfield, a senior who studied in Senegal, West Africa, used her Gilman scholarship to learn in an enviornment foreign to her.”Studying abroad gives you a different perspective on what other people think,” Brumfield said.Brumfield applied what she learned in Senegal to encourage high school students in Baton Rouge to study abroad.”I made a documentary of my time there and showed students at my old high school what my experience was like,” Brumfield said.And Brumfield did not fear the language barrier she was presented with in Senegal, where French is the official language.”I liked how English was not a language spoken there because it made me learn quickly,” she said.Brumfield started working for Gilman after she came back from studying abroad.”There are professional opportunites available with Gilman that could benefit any student,” Brumfield said.The Fulbright Program and Boren Awards feature internship and teaching opportunites instead of academic courses.Spring, fall and summer programs are available, and the online application for this summer’s program is due April 6.”It’s an all-around experience,” Brumfield said.
 
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Contact Mallory Logan at [email protected]