College of Charleston students continue to earn prestigious national scholarships to fund study abroad experiences. For the first time, a College of Charleston student has been awarded both the Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship and the Critical Need Language Award, for a total $8,000. Mason Hay (senior political science major) will travel to Morocco for the fall 2012 semester to participate in the “Language, Culture, and Society Semester” program sponsored by the Institute for Study Abroad.

Critical Need Language Awards provide funding for students studying a critical need language – those languages important to U.S. diplomacy. Hay was selected by the Institute for International Education for these U.S. Department of State grants based on the quality of his application and the fact that he will be studying Arabic while abroad.

“Mason Hay was chosen in a very competitive application cycle, which confirms the academic caliber of our students,” says Andrew Sobiesuo, associate provost for international education. “We are seeing record numbers of students choose to study abroad and we anticipate our students will continue to be awarded these prestigious scholarships.”

Mariel Simpson (sophomore geology major) is currently studying in Iceland on a Gilman Scholarship and April Adams (junior international studies major) and Stacy Calhoun (senior marine biology major) both studied abroad in spring 2012 as Gilman Scholarship recipients. Adams spent the semester in Buenos Aires, Argentina and Calhoun studied with the School for International Training (SIT) program in Costa Rica and Panama.

About the Gilman Scholarship Program

The program, founded by Congress in 2000, aims to encourage students to choose non-traditional study abroad destinations, especially those outside of Western Europe, Australia and New Zealand. The Gilman Scholarship Program aims to support students who have been traditionally under-represented in study abroad, including but not limited to, students with high financial need, community college students, students in under-represented fields such as the sciences and engineering, students with diverse ethnic backgrounds, and students with disabilities. Over 2,300 scholarships of up to $5,000 will be awarded this academic year for U.S. citizen undergraduates to study abroad.