McNair Scholar Monica Castro has been awarded a $4,500 Gilman Scholarship to study abroad in Costa Rica and Mexico during spring and fall 2007. The Gilman, a nationally competitive award, is designed to help fund study abroad experiences of undergraduate students who are traditionally underrepresented in education abroad.
As a first generation college student in her family, Castro will spend fall semester studying in Mexico, where her parents lived before moving to the United States.
Students who receive a Gilman Award are required to do a follow-up project upon return to the United States. This project is designed to promote education abroad or the scholarship. Castro has decided to help unite Student Support Services and the Education Abroad Office in an effort to encourage students underrepresented in study abroad to research the opportunity. She mentions the project is also an excellent way to promote the Gilman award.
Castro, a Senior Communication and Spanish major, currently works in Student Support Services as an Undergraduate Assistant. In the future, she hopes to establish a career where she can help traditionally underrepresented students research their education abroad options.
For more information about the Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship Program, visit their website at www.iie.org/gilman.