Gabriella "Gabi" Fleck could barely believe her eyes when she saw the email stating that she received one of the Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarships in early December.
"I called my parents and laughingly said, 'It can't be true,'" the University of North Georgia senior from Cumming said.
On the same day, Naomy Huaman sat in her class on East Asian politics when an email notified her that she also earned a Gilman scholarship.
"I was baffled," the UNG junior from Athens said. "I thought that we didn't get the results until February. I wasn't expecting this at all."
Similar scenes played out in early December as six UNG students learned they were the Gilman Early Summer awardees. They were:
*Fleck, majoring in Spanish on the Dahlonega campus, will study in Spain.
*Elias Keif, majoring in strategic and security studies with a concentration in cybersecurity and East Asian studies with a concentration in Chinese and in the ROTC Chinese Flagship on the Dahlonega Campus, will study in Taiwan.
*Alexa Hernandez-Lopez, majoring in visual arts on the Gainesville Campus, will study in Japan.
*Gabe Holder, majoring in Spanish and minoring in Arabic on the Dahlonega Campus, will study in Jordan.
*Huaman, majoring in international affairs on the Dahlonega Campus after transferring from the Oconee Campus, will study in Japan.
*Melissa Silva, majoring in Spanish and in the RISE program on the Gainesville Campus, will study in Spain.
Of the nearly 4,500 students who applied, more than 1,200 American students — 844 for spring 2019 and 395 for early summer decision 2019 — were selected to receive scholarships to participate in credit-bearing study abroad programs and career-oriented internships in countries around the world.
Sponsored by the U.S. Department of State Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and implemented by the Institute of International Education, the Gilman program offers scholarships of up to $5,000 to outstanding U.S. undergraduate Pell grant recipients. Students studying a critical need language could be eligible to receive a scholarship of up to $8,000.
