State Department Awards International Scholarship to McKendree Student
Emily Davis Will Study in Ireland
(LEBANON, Ill., November 30, 2017) — Emily Davis, a McKendree University junior from
Alhambra, Ill., has received a prestigious Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship to study at the National University of Ireland, Galway during the spring 2018 semester.
The Gilman Program is sponsored by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational
and Cultural Affairs and is supported in its implementation by the Institute of International
Education. Davis is one of nearly 1,000 undergraduate students from 386 U.S. colleges
and universities to be selected for the program. Gilman Scholars receive up to $5,000
to apply toward their study abroad or internship program costs.
“Having the opportunity to visit the birthplace of Irish stories, folktales, and legends
will give me a greater understanding of the development of literature in English,”
said Davis, a professional writing major and Spanish minor. “I will also take a class
on Irish Gaelic and the evolution of the Celtic languages, and how many languages
across Europe can be traced back to a single base language. It will help me better
understand the roots of the English language and how it is interconnected with multiple
other cultures.”
At McKendree, Davis coordinates a group of students who visit the Cedar Ridge Health
and Rehab Center, near the Lebanon campus, every Sunday. “The volunteers and I spend
one-on-one time with residents that do not receive many visitors. We take them outside
for walks, help them with recreational activities, and provide them with a safe space
to share their feelings and life stories,” she explained.
While in Galway, she plans to visit nursing home residents who do not often receive
visitors and, with their consent, to write down their stories and post them to a blog.
The project will prepare her for a civic engagement course she will take, upon returning
to McKendree, in which she will edit publicly viewed documents of Cedar Ridge’s senior
residents.
Davis is McKendree University’s third Gilman Scholar. Victoria Cook studied in Costa
Rica in 2013-2014; Lauren Craft spent a semester in Spain in 2014-2015. A list of
all students who have been selected to receive Gilman awards this term is posted at
gilmanscholarship.org.
The award is named for the late Congressman Benjamin Gilman, who served in the House
of Representatives for 30 years and chaired the House Foreign Relations Committee.
When honored with the Secretary of State’s Distinguished Service Medal in 2002, he
commented, “Living and learning in a vastly different environment of another nation
not only exposes our students to alternate views, but 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.”
-McK-
