(Posted August 17, 2020)

HUNTINGDON, Pa. – Five Juniata College students have been awarded Benjamin A. Gilman Scholarships and two students have been awarded the new Gilman-McCain Scholarship to study abroad during the 2020-2021 academic year. 

Madison Faith, a junior from Duncansville, Pa., Katrina Junga, a junior from Carlisle, Pa., Saraly Gonzalez, a junior from Stratford, N.J., Sidney Stevens, a junior from Huntingdon, Pa., and Matthew Munoz, a junior from Worthington, Ohio, received the Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship. Sean Perrine, a sophomore from Fort Bragg, N.C., and Zion Gomez, a sophomore from Chesapeake, Va., received the Gilman-McCain Scholarship.

Faith, Stevens, and Gomez will study in Mexico; Junga and Perrine in the United Kingdom; Gonzalez in France; and Munoz in Brazil.

The Gilman Scholarships, named for Benjamin Gilman, a Republican U.S. Representative from New York, offer grants for undergraduate students of limited financial means to study abroad. Scholarships of up to $5,000 are awarded every academic year. The scholarship program encourages students to choose non-traditional destinations for their study-abroad experience. For this cycle, 80 selection panelists from colleges and universities, reviewed and decided upon nearly 2,900 applications. More than 800 students were selected to receive Gilman Scholarships across the U.S.

New for this year, the Gilman-McCain Scholarship is a congressionally-funded initiative of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the U.S. Department of State. The scholarship is named for the late Sen. John S. McCain and provides awards for the dependents of active-duty service members to study or intern abroad on credit-bearing programs.

The Director of Study Abroad, Caitlin Murphy, recruits and advises eligible students to partake in this scholarship opportunity. The College’s community then sets to work, supporting students through the application process.

“There are two application cycles, one with a deadline in October and a second in March, depending on when a student will study abroad,” said Murphy. “Students complete their application and submit a personal statement and follow-on service project proposal. They have to state how the Gilman Scholarship would benefit them personally and academically and describe how the location they have selected will help them achieve their goals.”

Students are identified based on their eligibility for Pell Grants, which are federal grants for undergraduate students with financial need.

“It’s a national award and our students compete with those from colleges of all sizes from across the nation. Year after year, Juniata students are recognized with awards,” Murphy said. “This is something to be very proud of.”

In the 2020-2021 academic year, 45% percent of students will study abroad, according to the College’s Center for International Education. They can take advantage of the College’s partnerships with over 40 programs in 25 countries, on every continent except Antarctica.

Contact April Feagley at feaglea@juniata.edu or (814) 641-3131 for more information.