Students receive Gilman scholarships to study around the world
Friday, May 19, 2017
MANHATTAN — Five Kansas State University students have received the Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship to study in India, Italy, Thailand, the Turks and Caicos Islands, and Vietnam this summer.
The Gilman scholarship gives U.S. undergraduate students with high financial need up to $5,000 to participate in study abroad and internship programs worldwide. The scholarship program is sponsored by the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.
The following students are Gilman scholarship recipients:
Loan Tang, sophomore in biology, Garden City, will intern at the National Hospital of Traditional Medicine in Hanoi, Vietnam; Virginia Davis, senior in apparel and textiles, Manhattan, will study art history and drawing at Centro Studi Citto di Ovieto in Italy; Taryn Huckabay, senior in animal sciences and industry, Topeka, will study marine research techniques in the Turks and Caicos Islands; Brooke Wetta, sophomore in chemistry, Viola, will study health care and Hindi at Christ University in India; and Ann-Marie Kennedy, senior in social work, Wamego, will intern at The Emergency Shelter for Women and Children in Bangkok, Thailand.
Tang is a mentor in the Pre-Med Club and an ambassador for the K-State Office for the Advancement of Women in Science and Engineering. She is a member of Pre-Health Ambassadors, the Taekwondo Club and the University Honors Program. She was Youth Entrepreneurs' Ambassador of the Year in 2014-2015 and has been named a Kansas Honors Scholar, a Kansas State Scholar, a Kansas IDeA Network of Biomedical Research Excellence — or K-INBRE — scholar, and an Outstanding Senior in the School of Public Service at Garden City High School. She has received the Kansas State University Leadership Scholarship, the Tyson Family Foundation Scholarship, the Chapter X PEO Scholarship, the O'Brate Youth Entrepreneurs Scholarship, the Community Foundation Scholarship, the Garden City Association of Educational Office Professional Scholarship, the Student-Centered Tuition Enhancement Sponsored Undergraduate Research Scholarship, the Ireland-Kahl Scholarship in Biology and the June Hull Sherrid Scholarship in Biology. She has conducted undergraduate research in Jocelyn A. McDonald's laboratory to study genes that are important in cancer by working with Drosophila melanogaster. She is a graduate of Garden City High School and is the daughter of Chau Tang.
Davis won first place at the Apparel, Textiles, and Interior Design Showcase of Excellence in 2015, and she earned second place at the showcase in 2014. She won third place nationally in the Alpaca Design Challenge in 2015. She is a co-designer of Kansas State University's official tartan and was featured in the summer 2016 issue of Manhattan magazine. As a nontraditional student, Davis started her college career at age 58 to pursue her lifelong dream of becoming a fashion designer. She is a housemother for Lambda Chi Alpha.
Huckabay participates in intramural soccer and was a member of the K-State club soccer team. She was a collegiate soccer player at Allen County Community College, where she was named most improved player two years in a row. She is a Kansas Honors Scholar and is a member of the National Society of Leadership and Success. She has received the K-State Alumni Scholarship, a College of Agriculture scholarship and the Veronica Bonebrake International Scholarship. She was on the honor roll all four years at Topeka High School and graduated in the top third of her class. She is the daughter of Jeff Huckabay and Stacy Smith, Topeka.
Wetta was on the university's semester honors list for fall 2016. She is a graduate of Goddard High School, where she was a school ambassador and participated in Eco-Meet, which focused on the natural sciences; Pagemasters, a book club; Kansas Association for Youth; and track and cross-country. She is the daughter of John and Teresa Wetta.
Kennedy is the author of the ethnography "Me not raising no bhuttu daughter," published in the 2015 edition of Prairie Lights. She is a member of the Alpha Sigma Lambda honor society and the Phi Alpha Honor Society for Social Work, serving as vice president of external affairs and interest group coordinator. She participated in the United Nations' Commission on the Status of Women in New York City in March. She has received the Grace and Glen W. Long Scholarship, the George Powell Academic Promise Scholarship, the Memorial Scholarship, and the Colonel Greg Gadson Inspiration Award. During her Gilman-sponsored studies in Thailand, she will participate in a World Endeavors social work internship. Kennedy is a graduate of Mount Alvernia High School in Montego Bay, St. James, Jamaica. She is the daughter of Neville and Mary Wheelan-Kennedy, Apopka, Florida.
The goal of the Gilman scholarship is to bring diversity to the concept of studying abroad, both in the backgrounds of students who study abroad and the variety of locations around the world where they further their education, according to Brent Holliday, education abroad advisor in the Office of International Programs at Kansas State University. Holliday said this is also one of the university's goals, in partnership with the Institute of International Education's Generation Study Abroad initiative.
"Five Gilman recipients is the most K-State has ever had in one summer, which reflects that the university is making progress toward seeing students from historically underrepresented populations study abroad," Holliday said. "Additionally, several of our students are interning and researching abroad this summer, demonstrating that K-State students can have a variety of international experiences."
The next Gilman scholarship deadline is Oct. 2 for students who want to study, intern or research abroad in spring or summer 2018.
