Western Washington University

06/09/2025 | News release | Distributed by Public on 06/09/2025 12:00

Nine WWU students receive State Department's Gilman International Scholarship

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Nine WWU students receive State Department's Gilman International Scholarship

June 9, 2025

by Lili Luna Cruz

WWU Communications intern

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WWU student Crystal Fernandez, a Language, Literacy and Cultural Studies major, will use her Gilman scholarship to participating in an Education based service-learning opportunity in San Jose, Costa Rica.

Nine WWU students have received the U.S Department of State Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship for 2024-2025, the highest number of WWU recipients since the 2021-2022 academic year.

WWU students received a combined $28,500 in scholarship funding and will travel everywhere from Greece and Spain to Costa Rica and Uruguay.

Lauren Johnson from Wenatchee, a double major in Political Science and Communication Studies, will travel to Spain study anthropology, Spanish, and history.

"I am most excited for my anthropology class, which will focus on culture and cuisine in Spain," Johnson said. "I also intend to take independent community cooking classes in order to experience traditional dishes and dinning customs in Barcelona from locals."

Cal Bourne from Davis, California, will also study Spanish during an internship in Montevideo, Uruguay.

Lucy Wells, a Spanish and Linguistics double major from Kalama, will study the Irish language and its history in Ireland this summer.

Malika Halvorson, an Anthropology major from Spokane, will study literature in Greece and around Athens.

"I'm looking forward to getting to experience and explore Greece both in a modern and historical context," Halvorson said. "I'm looking to pursue a career in classical archaeology, so this will be wonderful exposure for me."

Crystal Fernandez of Mount Vernon, a Language, Literacy and Cultural Studies major, will be participating in an Education based service-learning opportunity in San Jose, Costa Rica.

"I am looking forward to learning and applying different teaching frameworks and techniques while developing my academic Spanish," Fernandez said. "This will be fundamental to my preparation for student teaching as my responsibilities will increase next school year."

Learn more about Study Abroad at WWU here!

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