IAP Announces Winners
There are days when Emma Spong wouldn’t trade jobs with anyone – days like May 8, 2013.
On that day Spong – executive staff assistant for International Academic Programs at the University of Missouri-Kansas City – escorted four UMKC students to the Harry S. Truman Good Neighbor Award Foundation luncheon.
The food was good, but the event was once in a lifetime: an address by a former President of the United States.
Attending the address by former President Bill Clinton was a thrill for Spong, and an added dividend that capped off an eventful semester for Alana Bruner, Dylan McGonigle, Marianne McKenzie and Jason Regina. Earlier, the four students received the Eddie Jacobson and the Sherman & Irene Dreiseszun Scholarships, funded by the Foundation, for study abroad.
The Jacobson and Dreiseszun scholarships are for long-term programs of study abroad, and are very competitive. Special consideration is given to undergraduates who want to study in less-traditional locations and have financial need.
Bruner, a sophomore, will study at the Université de Lyon 2 in Lyon, France, on a Sherman and Irene Dreiseszun Scholarship. A French major and Family Studies minor, Bruner will be abroad for the entire 2013-2014 academic year.
McKenzie, a sophomore, will join Bruner at the Université de Lyon 2 for the spring 2014 semester. McKenzie received the Eddie Jacobson Scholarship to pursue her dual major (Theater and French).
McGonigle is a junior English Literature major who will spend the fall 2013 semester in the Missouri-London Program. He has an Eddie Jacobson UMKC Match Scholarship.
Jason Regina, a senior Civil Engineering major, will attend Konkuk University in Seoul, South Korea for the fall 2013 semester. Regina was awarded the Sherman and Irene Dreiseszun UMKC Match Scholarship. Prior to leaving for Seoul, Jason, a recipient of the prestigious Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF), will spend the summer in the Engineering Laboratory at the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Gaithersburg, MD.
Prior to selection, each student’s academic record and their UMKC GPA were reviewed; and they selected courses abroad that will transfer back to UMKC. While abroad, they must remain students in good standing with grades of “C” or better in all classes.