Study Abroad Program Picks 20 W&L Students
The Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship Program announced its latest round of recipients for the academic year, marking a record-setting Gilman Scholar cohort for Washington and Lee University.
The 2024-2025 Gilman Scholar cohort — 20 students — is W&L’s largest ever, with 12 students receiving the Gilman Scholarship in December 2024 and eight students receiving the award in May. The university’s previous record of Gilman Scholar recipients in an academic year was 11 students.
More than 17,000 individuals applied to the scholarship program this academic year.
“This group of students displayed great dedication and tenacity throughout the application process, and it is wonderful to see their dreams come true,” said Dallas Tatman, assistant director of fellowships at W&L. “These leaders and scholars will experience firsthand the excitement and wonder that only comes from learning new things in new places. Best of all, they bring their experiences back with them and enrich our campus community.”
The Gilman Scholarship provides funding for U.S. undergraduate students who are Pell Grant recipients to study or intern abroad, encouraging them to expand their horizons as they pursue their academic and career interests.
“The Gilman Scholarship makes studying abroad possible for low-income students like me who would not otherwise have such an amazing opportunity and allows us to get our foot in the door and deeply enrich our learning experiences as global citizens,” said Gina Kuah ’27, who will study Japanese language, culture and international politics at the International Christian University in Tokyo.
W&L’s Gilman Scholar cohort is pursuing a range of language-learning and research opportunities around the world, such as Armenian in Armenia, Portuguese in Brazil, marine ecology in Panama and wildlife conservation in Tanzania. W&L students will also develop their professional skills through international internships, including a fine arts internship in Spain and a marketing internship in Chile.
“This scholarship represents more than just funding, said Chace Thompson ’27, who will be participating in a program centered on global citizenship education in Castiglion Fiorentino, Italy. “It symbolizes the bridge between my roots as a low-income, first-generation college student from rural Appalachian West Virginia and the vast world I’ve always dreamed of exploring but never thought would be a possibility for me.”
