New FEA Scholars are 100% minority background, 51% first-generation, and 27% community college students
Read the full press release here.
WASHINGTON, DC, November 7, 2019 – The Fund for Education Abroad (FEA) has granted 41 scholarships during its second spring award cycle, increasing access to international education to a record 176 students in 2019. Scholarships to FEA’s latest cohort totaled $200,000, bringing scholarships awarded in 2019 to a record $600,000 and increasing by 45 percent the number of students awarded in a single year.
Of the 41 awarded students, 100% are of minority background, 51% are first-generation college students, and 27% have attended community college, now or in the past. A total of 466 scholars have benefited from over $1.8 million in scholarships since FEA’s inception in 2010.
“These students all, in some way, represent backgrounds traditionally underrepresented in American study abroad,” said FEA Executive Director Jennifer Calvert. “They embody FEA’s mission of increasing access to international education to those least likely to experience the high-impact practice of study abroad.”
The spring 2020 FEA scholarship winners were selected from a pool of over 1,800 applicants representing approximately 470 colleges and universities across the country. A team of 110 volunteer reviewers read and reviewed each application. The newly named FEA Scholars and their study abroad destinations are:
- Joanely Alvidrez of Metropolitan State University of Denver to Italy;
- Perla Bermudez of DePauw University to Peru (The School for Field Studies);
- Bidhya Bhattarai of Des Moines Area Community College to the United Kingdom (AIFS);
- Aimee Carrillo of University of Redlands to Denmark (DIS);
- Donovan Carter of Howard University to Colombia (CET Academic Programs);
- Yuri Choi of Hamilton College to the Netherlands (SIT);
- Janeil Dickens of University of Illinois at Chicago to Japan;
- Paulina Estrada Oaxaca of University of New Mexico to Spain;
- Mia Forsline of Occidental College to Bhutan (The School for Field Studies);
- Yesenia Garcia Ramos of University of California, Santa Barbara to France;
- Feven Gebremariam of D’Youville College to the United Kingdom (CAPA The Global Education Network);
- Betlhame Hailu of the George Washington University to France;
- Maura “Jazz” Harris of Elon University to Ireland (FIE: Foundation for International Education);
- Yamai Jack of American University to Kenya;
- Alexis Jackson of University of Maryland, College Park to Italy;
- Baldwin Lawson of SUNY Oswego to the United Kingdom (CAPA The Global Education Network);
- Matthew Mitchell of University of California, Santa Barbara to France;
- Muhammad Ali Mojaradi of University of Michigan to Jordan (CET Academic Programs);
- Estela Najera of California State University, Sacramento to Chile (USAC);
- An Nguyen of University of California, Irvine to the United Kingdom;
- Julienne Niemyski of Mount Holyoke College to Sweden (DIS);
- Anish Patel of Trinity University to China (CET Academic Programs);
- Maricarmen Pedroza of University of Southern California to the United Kingdom;
- Mayeline Pena Cabrera of Smith College to Spain;
- Son Phan of Macalester College to Japan (CET Academic Programs);
- Walter Ramirez of University of California, Irvine to Italy & Spain;
- Irma Reyes Aragon of Brandeis University to Cuba (IFSA);
- Isaiah Romulus of Clark University to the United Kingdom (CAPA The Global Education Network);
- Jennifer Rufino of Pomona College to Argentina (SIT);
- Guyania Sarazin of Mount Holyoke College to Denmark (DIS);
- Michaela Shelton of Pomona College to South Africa (SIT);
- Lily Tang of University of Massachusetts, Amherst to China (CAPA The Global Education Network);
- Alejandra Tinoco Bonilla of Brandeis University to Mexico (IFSA);
- Tran Zen Torres of University of Nevada, Reno to Spain (USAC);
- Thalia Torres of Arizona State University to Spain (CAPA The Global Education Network);
- Hillary Tun of Connecticut College to China (CET Academic Programs);
- Sulakshmi Vaid of Cedar Crest College to Italy (AIFS);
- Cheyenne Vance of Pomona College to South Africa;
- Emily Wise of University of Maryland, College Park to Spain;
- Airin Wu of University of California, San Diego to the United Kingdom; and
- Michael Zhu of University of South Carolina, Columbia to Denmark.
FEA Scholars come from a variety of racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic backgrounds and represent higher education institutions across the country, and they include minority, LBGTQI, first-generation college and community college students. FEA funds scholarships of up to $10,000 for an academic year abroad, enabling students to study across the globe for a minimum of four weeks to a full academic year.
Fund for Education Abroad spring 2020 scholars include (from l-r, top-bottom): Feven Gebremariam, Walter Ramirez, Bidhya Bhattarai, Alejandra Tinoco Bonilla, Zena Jaber, Baldwin Lawson, Irma Reyes Aragon, Donovan Carter, and Joanely Alvidrez.
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About the Fund for Education Abroad
The Fund for Education Abroad (FEA) is a 501(c)(3) whose mission is to provide scholarships and ongoing support to students who are underrepresented among the U.S. study abroad population, making life-changing, international experiences accessible to all by supporting minority and first-generation college students before, during, and after they participate in education abroad programs. FEA Access Partners participate on the FEA Access Advisory Board (AAB), establish best practices in international education and actively engage in FEA’s mission to increase the number of Americans studying abroad. FEA is a Guidestar Platinum participant, and has won the 2019 Scholarship Provider of the Year Award from the National Scholarship Providers Association, the 2015 Diversity Abroad Excellence in Diversifying International Education Award and GoAbroad.com’s 2015 Innovation in Philanthropy Award. Follow FEA at www.fundforeducationabroad.org, on Facebook and LinkedIn at Fund for Education Abroad, and on Twitter and Instagram: @FEAScholarships.