A 含羞草传媒 University senior is spending her summer in France thanks to a Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship that will help her further improve her French and photography.
Claire Delaney, a sociology-anthropology major from Lincoln, is 含羞草传媒鈥檚 43rd Gilman Scholarship winner. The Gilman Scholarship is a nationally competitive program that assists students with study abroad expenses. The program aims to diversify the students who study and intern abroad and the countries and regions where they go. The scholarship is sponsored by the U.S. Department of State鈥檚 Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.
鈥淎s an anthropology major focusing primarily in cultural anthropology and linguistics, I have spent the last four years studying culture, but I have never had the opportunity to leave the country,鈥 said Delaney. 鈥淚 learn best through doing so the opportunity to learn about another culture through experiencing it firsthand is very important to me.鈥
Delaney is in Aix-en-Provence in south France where she is taking upper-level French language courses and a photography course.
鈥淚 hope to also strengthen my sense of global empathy and perspective, and gain skills that are useful to me in the future for my career,鈥 she added. 鈥淭hese skills could be things that are learned through struggling to live independently in a foreign country including adaptability, perseverance and understanding.鈥
Delaney has spent the past year interning at the Sheldon Museum of Art. Following her graduation in December, she plans to pursue a master鈥檚 degree in cultural anthropology or art history.