Three New Mexico State University students will study abroad after receiving competitive fellowships. These undergraduates will travel across the world to learn new cultures and languages.
This summer, Kassandra Vasquez and Haylee Viramontes will begin their study abroad programs. In September, Cole Vetter will begin his eight-month study abroad program.
NMSU’s Fellowships Office, within the William Conroy Honors College, guides students in finding and applying for highly-selective study abroad scholarships. With the help of the Fellowships Office, each of these students were able to overcome the intimidating application process.
Andrea Orzoff, director of the Fellowships Office, said these achievements should be celebrated because of the opportunities they present.
“They’ll of course learn languages and academic topics, but beyond that, Kassandra, Cole and Haylee will be immersed in new cultures and experiences, in parts of the world that are new to them,” Orzoff said. “They will come back inspired and changed. They will see the world and their place in it very differently.”
Vasquez, a sophomore with a double major in art and business, was selected from the United States-United Kingdom Fulbright Commission for the Fulbright Scotland Summer Institute on Technology, Innovation and Creativity. She will attend the Glasgow School of Art and the University of Strathclyde from July to August 2023. She will study Scotland’s technology development, culture and art.
“I am so excited to attend the University of Strathclyde and the Glasgow School of Art because they are amazing schools,” Vasquez said. “The University of Strathclyde has impeccable research in regard to technology, engineering and business industries, and the Glasgow School of Art has the most amazing art classes Europe has to offer.”
While Vasquez will be studying Scotland’s culture, Viramontes and Vetter were both awarded Boren Scholarships to study foreign languages. The Boren program offers intensive critical and foreign languages study abroad opportunities that resonate with national security.
Vetter, a senior with a triple major in government, history and psychology, was awarded the National Security Education Program David L. Boren Scholarship to study Arabic in Jordan from September 2023 to April 2024. This award gives students the opportunity to learn a language vital to American national security interests through a study abroad program.
“Initially, I was in a state of total shock,” Vetter said. “Of course, I would have never been selected for this award if I hadn’t had the help I received from Dr. Andrea Orzoff. However, I’m incredibly thankful that I’ve been selected for this opportunity, and I think I’m most excited to start thinking in Arabic rather than English for a time. I hope to become more fluent by the time I return.”
Viramontes, a sophomore with a major in information engineering technology, hopes for the same experience from her Boren Scholarship. She is set to study in an intensive Japanese program at the Kyoto Japanese Language School and the KCP International Japanese Language School in Japan from June to August 2023. Her hobby of watching anime is what introduced her to Japanese culture.
“The beauty that anime reflects in the language, the country and the people are what truly inspired me to look for study abroad programs in Japan,” Viramontes said. “Working closely with Dr. Orzoff on my application and tearing apart my drafts helped immensely. I am super nervous, but overwhelmingly excited at the same time. I am honored to be a recipient of the Boren Scholarship; it has reminded me of how exciting this journey in life really is.”
“I worked intensively with Haylee and Cole in particular,” said Orzoff, who has known the pair since their first semesters at NMSU. “Both Haylee and Cole embody the values of global citizenship we try to build in the Honors College. It has been a joy to see their efforts succeed.”
Another NMSU student hopes to become more fluent in a new language as well. Andrea Cruz, a sophomore with a major in psychology, was awarded the State Department Critical Language Scholarship to study Chinese this summer. The CLS Spark program offers students the chance to learn Chinese, Russian or Arabic virtually. Even though Cruz will not study abroad, she is excited to explore a new culture.
“My interest in learning Chinese is not recent, in fact, a year ago I began to be interested in Chinese because it seems to me a language with very beautiful phonetics,” Cruz said. “I feel very excited to be able to study Chinese.”
Orzoff said fellowships look terrific on resumes but are also tools for transformation and self-discovery.
“All of these awards are competitive at the national level,” Orzoff said. “They’re intended to provide opportunities that most universities can’t. It really says a lot about our NMSU students’ hard work and talent that they were selected for these prestigious fellowships from an applicant pool of students from all over the U.S. I couldn’t be happier for these students.”
For more information or questions about the Fellowships Office, visit https://honors.nmsu.edu/scholarships/index.html.
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NMSU photos by Josh Bachman