Thirteen New Mexico State University students were awarded a total of $37,000 by the U.S. Department of State’s Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship to help fund study abroad programs in summer 2025, fall 2025 and spring 2026.
From the 17,000 applications, 3,500 students across the country received Gilman Scholarships, which are designed to make study abroad more accessible to those with financial need. This year, NMSU students Patricia Martinez, Ariana Gutierrez, Elsa Meenach, Andrea Guzman, Brianna Guapo, Aylin Rios, Timothy Berns, Edgar Lozano, Cori Cox, Alejandro Acosta, Bella Esparza, Jordan Walker and Isabella McGrath will travel to Belize, South Korea, Spain, Thailand and Costa Rica. In addition, Kailia Rankin was awarded the Freeman-ASIA Scholarship. Rankin will use the scholarship to fund her study abroad experience in Japan.
NMSU Education Abroad Adviser Lisa Munson said the university has been ranked among the top awarding institutions, and this year NMSU had four more recipients than the March 2024 cycle.
“The best outcome of the increased numbers is more students have the money to access study abroad opportunities,” Munson said.
The application requires three essays, including a service project proposal, which encourages students to give back by promoting study abroad experiences once they return. Munson, who has served for the Gilman review panel three times, emphasized the importance of authenticity and intention in a student’s application.
“There is a lot of networking and professional development opportunities for the Gilman recipients,” Munson said. “It teaches you to think more intentionally about your studying abroad experience and about why you chose to do this program and how it related to your career down the road.”
One of this year’s recipients, Bella Esparza, a senior majoring in counseling and community psychology, chose a destination that holds personal significance.
“Spain has always been an interesting country to me since my ancestry does trace back to the northern regions of it, which ironically also happened to be where the program’s city location was at,” Esparza said.
She chose A Coruña, Spain, as her destination through the True Spanish Experience program. Since her freshman year of college, Esparza had dreamed of traveling abroad, and she was thrilled to spend her summer strengthening her Spanish while exploring the local culture and lifestyle.
Her journey to receiving the scholarship wasn’t immediate. Esparza applied in the fall without success, but with encouragement from Munson she decided to try again.
“Lisa continued to encourage me to reapply as many students do. So, I went ahead and took my chances, and gratefully I won the spring semester of 2025 right before my trip was set to leave,” she said.
Through her experience, Esparza hopes others will also take the leap into global education.
“I would highly encourage all people and students who have the opportunity to travel abroad to take the risk of change, exploration and experience life,” she said. “Change means growth, growth means success, and there is so much success in learning and evolving as a human being.”
For more information about studying abroad, visit https://educationabroad.nmsu.edu/.