Three new Boren Scholars
The National Scholarship Office is pleased to announce that VCU has three new Boren Scholars. Margaret Cotter, Bertrand (Yohannes) Mpigabahizi, and Rachel Sine will be awarded Boren Scholarships to study abroad during the 2011-2012 academic year. With their selection, VCU students have now won twelve Boren Scholarships in the past five years. Last year’s Boren Scholars, Ben Cohen (senior in Mass Comm) is studying Mandarin in Taiwan, and Elisabeth Moore (junior in English) is just about to complete a year of study of Mandarin in Beijing. All five of these students are members of The Honors College.
Margaret Cotter is from Midlothian and was about to graduate summa cum laude with University Honors with a double major in International Studies and Political Science and a minor in Italian. She will postpone her graduation until after she completes a year studying Turkish language and culture in Istanbul.
Yohannes Mpigabahizi is just completing his first year at VCU. From Bristow, Virginia, he is majoring in International Studies and Economics and planning to get a minor in Arabic. He will spend the next year studying Arabic and Egyptian politics, history and culture in Cairo. With elections upcoming in the fall, Yohannes will have a front row seat to watch as democracy tries to take root in Egypt.
Rachel Sine is a sophomore from Roanoke majoring in International Studies with concentrations in International Relations and Southeast Asia Studies and a minor in Religious Studies. She will spend the next year continuing her Hindi studies in India, while also studying Indian culture, history and politics. Rachel was also selected for a Critical Language Scholarship earlier this spring and will undertake intensive Hindi language studies in India this summer before she begins her Boren studies in the fall.
These three students and four others applied for the Boren in early February. However, they began work on their applications much earlier, some of them back in the fall. Each nominee meets twice with a Boren Review Panel comprised of faculty, staff, administrators, alumni and community members. These panels then complete and submit a Campus Review for each Boren applicant. Boren candidates also work closely with the Education Abroad staff and the National Scholarship Office (based in The Honors College) to fine tune their applications before submitting them to the national competition. In addition, Boren applicants get significant feedback and support from their faculty mentors and recommenders.
We can be confident that Margaret, Yohannes and Rachel will build on the wonderful foundations they have been establishing at VCU. Other recent Boren Scholars from VCU are currently pursuing graduate or professional degrees at schools like Georgetown, George Washington University, and VCU’s Homeland Security Program. Others are already working for the federal government or serving in our military, and one is in the process of applying to become a Navy Seal.
In this year’s competition, approximately 140 Boren Scholarships were awarded from a field of more than 900 applicants. While nationally only about one in six or one in seven Boren applicants will be selected, the fact that three of VCU’s seven candidates were selected speaks well of the quality of our applicants, the education they are receiving as undergraduates at VCU and the support that they receive from their faculty mentors and recommenders as well as the review panels. Over the past five years, just over a third of VCU’s Boren candidates have been successful.