Congratulations to Ayat Aribi, Chlesea Akyeampong and Brenda Hernandez on earning a nationally competitive scholarship to study abroad this summer. Administered by the Institute of International Education, the Gilman Scholarship aims to encourage students to study and intern in a diverse array of countries and world regions.
Ayat Aribi will be participating in the IES European Union Summer program that is based in Freiburg, Germany. Part of the program is a 16 day excursion to Cyprus, Greece, and Bosnia-Herzegovina to study the economics of these European countries. Ayat will be learning about the economics of European countries and how the economics of new groups of people in Europe.
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Ayat is an Economics and Global Studies double major with a minor in Arabic. She is involved in student government as the external vice president and is also on the student conduct board. Ayat hopes to graduate from UNL and go on to Law School and do professional work in economic public policy. One of her professional goals is to participate in the creation of a center/home for battered women/their children where they will be taught financial literacy and how to open businesses/become independent financially.
Chelsea Akyeampong is a freshman Global Studies Major on the Pre-Law track. This summer Chelsea plans on studying in Paris, France at the Institut Catholique de Paris through the International Studies Abroad program(ISA). She will be studying the French language at the Institute for about a month this summer. Chelsea is very involved on UNL’s campus, and is a part of the UNL Model United Nations Club in which she and other students went to New York to participate in the Model United Nations Conference where they represented the Sudan. She is also an active member and also now President of the UNL African Student Association in which she helps organize events such as Taste of Africa, the annual Festival of African Culture(FESTAC). Chelsea is from Omaha where she is an active member in the African community. Chelsea and her family are from Ghana in West Africa. Chelsea's future career will be based on her law degree in which she plans to specialize in international and human rights law, fighting transnational crime such as human and sex trafficking for which she developed a passion while taking the Social Justice and Human Rights in the Media course at the university.
Brenda Hernandez will be doing a Summer multi-session through the CIEE program to the Czech Republic and France. She will be leaving on May 21st and returning July 18th, taking psychology courses and focusing on Psychoanalysis and art; a course that focuses on the psychodynamics of the creative process and how it can be used as part of therapy. Brenda is a sophomore Psychology major with a pre-health track and has a minor in Global Studies. Brenda is involved in numerous clubs on campus such as Model United Nations, Young Democrats, Pre-Occupational Therapy Club, NUSAMS, and Amnesty International Club. Brenda's future plan is to become an Occupational Therapist and try to do Doctors Without Borders type of work.
More about Gilman Scholarship:
This is a congressionally funded program of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the U.S. Department of State and named after retired congressman Benjamin A. Gilman from New York. With his support, the program was established by the International Academic Opportunity Act of 2000. Shortly thereafter in 2002, Congressman Gilman retired after serving in the House of Representatives for 30 years and chairing the House Foreign Relations Committee.
Award amounts will vary depending on the length of study and student need. Applicants who are studying a critical need language while abroad in a country in which the language is predominantly spoken will automatically be considered for the Critical Need Language Award, for a total award of $8,000. This award is competitive and offered to a limited number of students each year.
More details at: https://www.iie.org/Programs/Gilman-Scholarship-Program