This press release originally appeared in LMU’s Newsroom.
LOS ANGELES, June 19, 2018 – Three Loyola Marymount University students have been awarded the prestigious Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship to study or intern abroad this summer, the U.S. Department of State has announced. Two of which are students in the Bellarmine College of Liberal Arts.
LMU’s scholars are: Megan Castillo, a senior psychology and African-American studies double major, and Mia Clark, a senior psychology major, who were selected to study in Ghana; and Matthew Stirling, a junior communications studies major who will study in the United Kingdom.
Gilman Scholars receive up to $5,000 to apply toward study abroad or internship program costs, with additional funding available for the study of a critical language overseas.
The scholarship supports American undergraduate students of limited financial means to study or intern abroad and, since 2001, has enabled more than 25,000 outstanding Americans of diverse backgrounds to engage in a meaningful educational experience abroad. This year the program will support 1,200 undergraduates from 363 colleges and universities from across the country.
The scholarship is named for the late Congressman Gilman, who served in the House of Representatives for 30 years and chaired the House Foreign Relations Committee. When honored with the Secretary of State’s Distinguished Service Medal in 2002, he commented, “Living and learning in a vastly different environment of another nation not only exposes our students to alternate views, but adds an enriching social and cultural experience. It also provides our students with the opportunity to return home with a deeper understanding of their place in the world, encouraging them to be a contributor, rather than a spectator in the international community.”
The program is sponsored by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and is supported in its implementation by the Institute of International Education.
