Shoreline student Logan Gamache will study abroad in South Africa during Summer 2019 thanks to a $2,500 award from the U.S. Department of State’s prestigious Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship. Gamache was the only student at a two-year college in Washington State to receive the scholarship, which he’ll be using to participate in Professor Ernest Johnson’s month-long program that kicks off in Cape Town.
Students participating in the South Africa program will study social justice, equity, and communications, as well as learn about local history and culture. Originally from Yakima, Gamache’s international travel has been limited to Mexico and Canada, and he looks forward to becoming immersed in and learning about a region of the world so far from home.
A player on the Shoreline men’s soccer team, Gamache will miss part of the 2019 season to take part in the study abroad program, but couldn’t pass up this “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” to experience another culture through a program that was almost fully funded by the scholarship. “I definitely would not have the opportunity to go without Shoreline,” Gamache said.
Award recipients are chosen by a competitive selection process, with thousands of students applying each year nationwide. Since 2012, sixteen Shoreline students have received the Gilman Scholarship, which awards scholarships of up to $5,000 to help students pay for study abroad programs.
According to the scholarship website, “Living and learning in a vastly different environment or another nation not only exposes our students to alternate views, but also adds an enriching social and cultural experience. It also provides our students with the opportunity to return home with a deeper understanding of their place in the world, encouraging them to be a contributor, rather than a spectator in the international community.”