Honor Society, a leading national academic and professional honor society, announced the Study Abroad 2019 Scholarship Recipients in April 2019. Five recipients were chosen for the $1,000 Study Abroad Scholarship. Each of these students have excelled in some area of their academic career or personal life.
The Study Abroad Scholarship is one of many scholarships offered by Honor Society. Scholarship recipients are glad they joined in order to take advantage of the year-round scholarship opportunities.
$1,000 Study Abroad Scholarship
Chiquita Jackson: My name is Chiquita Jackson and I am a First-Generation college student studying Political Science, African American Studies, and Social Justice on a pre-law track. I was the first person in my family to graduate high school and attend college, which was a major milestone for my family. As a result, I am self-supporting and self-motivated, and I am doing everything I can to complete my education. Although the journey may be tough at times, I am not doing this for myself, but so I can be a role model for my siblings. My strength is my determination. Ever since I was 11 years old I had a desire to become an attorney because my parents were constantly having issues with the law, and I thought it was my responsibility to help them. However, once I got to high school, I watched a Michael Moore documentary about the corruption in the healthcare industry and realized that I need to “fight the system”. As a first-generation college student, I deserve to have the career I desire because minority representation matters. I possess the willpower to be successful, to be the next Thurgood Marshall or Johnny Cochran. This scholarship will allow me to be able to experience another culture, community, and legal aspects to help with my law career. Also, this study abroad would help me to improve my networking skills and cultural awareness of Columbia as well as familiarizing myself with the functions of different law fields. Recently, I have been volunteering at numerous events about the importance of safe sex and other health awareness programs that are not taken seriously within the African American community. I aspire to serve the community and generate plans to support the people who want to follow effective changes. I believe that this study abroad program would assist me to understand how to become an impactful advocate for my community.
Alexah Coon: I am a music performance major. Music is everything to me. My goal is to become the best harpist I can be, as well as a wonderful music teacher, so that I can bring the gift of music into the lives of everyone I meet. Music brings me joy and I want to share that will others through my performing on the harp. Studying harp with Anneleen Lenaerts is a very unique opportunity for me at this point in my study of the harp. She is very accomplished and well recognized in the harp world, and studying with her will help me to improve my technique, skill, and musicality in performing. She is not only a performer, but a teacher, which is what I aspire to one day be. She will be an example to me of how to work hard for our goals in music, and never give up. Likewise, studying classical music history in Vienna will be beneficial for my major in music performance because it will expand my knowledge of classical music and classical music composers. Vienna has always been a large center for classical music throughout history. It is where much of the well known and lesser known music was composed, and many composers spent much of their lives there. By studying this music in Vienna, I will gain a deeper understanding of where the music came from and how music changed throughout history. Vienna has many older churches, where the music of famous composers was originally performed. Hearing classical music in the spaces is was written to be performed in will greatly enhance my knowledge of the true sound of classical music. Only in Vienna can performance for these talented groups be heard on a regular basis, in the old churches, and create a truly breathtaking performance.I seek to truly know the music that I already love performing, and through studying music in Vienna with other musicians, I will be able to do just that. No other place in the world has as much music incorporated into its history, and no other place in the world appreciates and performs that music quite like they do in Vienna.
Heloisa Oliveira Lima De Faria: My name is Heloisa Oliveira Lima de Faria. I was born and raised in Brazil. In 2016, I decided to move to the United States to have a better academic opportunity. This decision completely changed my life as I was leaving my family and friends behind to venture in an unknown place. I started my academic life at Valencia College in Orlando, where I got my A.A. degree. In 2018, I transferred to the University of Florida (UF). I am majoring in international studies with the focus in the region of Europe and political sciences. Also, I am doing a minor in nonprofit organizational leadership. I am having an extraordinary experience in UF. I am studying subjects that are close to my heart, and that will help me with my professional career. In my spare time, I am taking French class as it is an essential language in the international community. Also, I am trying to improve my Spanish. After graduating, I am hoping to do work with the Peace Corps or another humanitarian organization. After, I would like to do my masters in the Diplomatic Academy of Vienna. Then, I plan to go back to my country to work in the nonprofit sector.
Ulises Linares: My name is Ulises Linares and I am double majoring in Asian Languages & Literatures and Urban Studies. I am also Latino and fluent in both English and Spanish, since I was young, I have always been interested in foreign languages, and so I decided to learn Chinese because I wanted to challenge myself by learning a non-European language. I am majoring in Urban Studies because I love cities and learning about how cities work, how they are planned and designed Is something that I am very passionate about. I aspire to be an urban planner working in city government to plan for more sustainable and equitable cities for all. My college experience so far has been great. I have had great professors and talented classmates who are just as passionate about what they study as I am, and I am always learning something new from my peers. I am also actively making friends with Chinese international students on campus to broaden my international perspective while practicing my language skills. My interests in urban planning go beyond my immediate surroundings and I am also interested in a wide range of international topics, for this reason I have decided to combine both majors into an internship opportunity in China. This scholarship will allow me to pursue an opportunity that will grant me real world experience and learn about how community planning is done in a country vastly different than the United States. It will also give me the opportunity to use my Chinese language skills. I will be doing and learning about the two things I love the most, Chinese and urban planning!
Kate Petty: My passions have always belonged in nature and have shaped my academic goals of developing a deep understanding of, and career in ecology and biodiversity. I aim to get a PhD in biology and become a leader and steward of conservation biology. Hence, the topics of study in the Panama Tropical Island Biodiversity Studies program including resource management, interactions between Panama society and the environment, and marine and rainforest ecology intrigue me. I believe that the structure of the program will be very conducive to what I hope to gain out of my college experience. While the entire curriculum is already established, with four participation-based courses and a self-lead research project, I will gain a very personal and comprehensive understanding of ecology, its social implications, and policies to protect threatened ecosystems, as well as independent field research on island biodiversity and cultural exposure. The program directly supports my major in biology and minors in chemistry and math. For example, collecting and analyzing species data, looking at statistical trends in climate change, or determining the economic impacts of protection policies will build on my knowledge from statistics, chemistry, and biology. A specific example of how my college education may benefit is in investigating Panama’s plantations and their effects on the coastal environment, where I will pull knowledge about agriculture from chemistry and relate it to cellular and molecular biology and its effect on cellular processes of indigenous organisms. The directed study and participation-based courses also satisfy my interest in hands-on, experiential learning during my college education. I want an abroad experience that is different from just sitting in a foreign classroom, so this program’s immersive, interdisciplinary practice will nurture my objectives. I will be able to apply what I learn to real life in a comprehensive, meaningful way.
