Gilman International Scholarship for study abroad

Shawnee State University student Melissa Collins, the daughter of Sherman and Sherri Collins, of Franklin Furnace, has received a $4,500 Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship to study in Morocco.The scholarship is a Congressionally-funded program sponsored by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the U.S. Department of State and is administered by the Institute of International Education through its office in Houston, Texas.

Collins will attend Al Akhawayn University in Ifrane, Morocco.Studying abroad is going to be a life changing experience for me, and I am very excited,” Collins said. “I hope to get to know a lot of the local students and other internationals at Al Akhawayn.The program provides scholarships to students who study abroad, including students from diverse backgrounds and students going to non-traditional study abroad destinations. The scholarship will pay for fees, tuition, room and board, airfare, books, local transportation and insurance.The Gilman Program is the largest undergraduate study abroad scholarship in the nation, now awarding over 2,300 scholarships annually. In 10 years, the Gilman Program has received more than 31,000 applications and has awarded more than 8,800 scholarships to students studying in 125 countries and enrolled in nearly 950 U.S. institutions.Collins is the second student at Shawnee State University to receive the scholarship in the past few years. Jonathan Phillips, of New Boston, received the scholarship in spring 2010.