Campus News

UK Education Abroad Announces Winners of Spring 2015 Diversity Scholarship

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LEXINGTON, Ky. (Dec. 17, 2014) — Two University of Kentucky students are the first to have been awarded the UK International Studies Abroad Diversity Scholarship for Spring 2015 to help each of them pursue their education abroad endeavors.

Johnson Lam, an accounting junior, and Isabella Sanchez, a pre-civil engineering junior, have each been awarded a $5,000 voucher to apply toward an ISA education abroad program within two years.

“I feel so grateful that I’ve been given this amazing opportunity,” Lam said. “Receiving this scholarship means that I can pursue my dreams of spending a semester in Spain.”

Lam, who is Asian American, has been studying the Spanish language since the sixth grade and hopes that spending a semester in Spain will help him become fluent in the language. He also hopes this opportunity will allow him to see other parts of Europe — something he’d only dreamt about before.

“This scholarship has opened up a lot of opportunities that I wouldn’t have considered possible before now,” Sanchez said.

Sanchez, who is Hispanic, said the field of civil engineering doesn’t allow her to explore her history minor as much as she would like, so she hopes to focus her education abroad experience on history courses and experiences.

“Education abroad experiences offer an invaluable understanding of how to respectfully interact with people from different backgrounds and of what it’s like to be in the other person’s position,” Sanchez said.

“Giving students the chance to study abroad is vital in creating a well-rounded and more ‘global’ student,” Lam said. “By creating a new generation of students who can view the world from a multicultural perspective, the world will become more interconnected.”

The ISA-UK Diversity Scholarship offers two award cycles and is not tied to a specific term. Students who contribute to the university’s growing interest in the educational benefits of a diverse student body will be considered for the award, which ranges between $2,500 and $5,000.

ISA is a UK partner affiliate that offers education abroad opportunities to UK undergraduates in different countries across the globe.

For more information about this scholarship, please click here: http://www.uky.edu/international/diversityscholarship.

MEDIA CONTACT: Sarah Geegan, (859) 257-5365; sarah.geegan@uky.edu