February 6, 2023

FGC Student Awarded $4000 Gilman Scholarship for Summer 2023 Study Abroad

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LAKE CITY, Fla. – Florida Gateway College student Cade Mesnard has been awarded the Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship from the U.S. State Department and will participate in FGC’s Summer 2023 Study Abroad Program in the United Kingdom.

After completing the scholarship application process, which included writing three essays on the importance of travel and how he would use the experience in his life and career, Mesnard was selected to receive an award of $4,000. This will defray a substantial portion of the $5,300 cost of the FGC Study Abroad Program.

Cade plans to use this opportunity to inform his work as a digital arts student, writer, and future independent game developer. “I think it’s very important, as a digital media artist and someone who studies art, to see the art in person rather than just online or in a textbook,” said Mesnard. “It’s an opportunity that a lot of students don’t get, so I am very grateful and excited.”

This will be Cade’s first time traveling abroad. He says he is most excited to see the art, architecture, and history for himself, in the place where it happened, and to carry those lessons and inspiration into his future.

FGC’s Summer 2023 Study Abroad Program will see a group of students traveling to the U.K. to study at Harlaxton College, located in a Victorian Manor situated on a 300-acre estate in the English countryside. Students will earn six credit hours in Art History and Creative Writing while living for three weeks in the stately home and enjoying official program excursions to locations like Oxford, York, and London to take in the surrounding history and culture.

The FGC Study Abroad Program traveled with its first cohort of 10 students in the Summer of 2019. While the intervening years’ programs were canceled due to the pandemic, all involved are excited for the program to finally resume. The program is led by FGC instructors Dr. Michael Baker and Professor Lisa Co, who will accompany the students in their travels.

Baker, who himself studied abroad in St. Petersburg, Russia; Odesa, Ukraine; and the U.K., knows the lifechanging impact that international travel can have and is happy to be furthering the mission of study abroad.

“Study abroad is incredibly valuable to a student, I think especially in our area,” Baker said. “In a smaller community like ours, they sometimes don’t have the opportunity to get out and see different perspectives. Seeing more of the world tends to broaden a person’s view of the world and make them more understanding and tolerant of other people and other ideas.”

Baker hopes that Cade’s scholarship will send a message to other FGC students, who may not have thought that study abroad was an option, that the opportunity is not out of reach. The U.S. Department of State sees the scholarship funds as an investment in the future of foreign relations and considers students “citizen diplomats” from the U.S. to the host country. As such, the Gilman Scholarship is offered to make studying abroad available to those who may otherwise not have the ability. The scholarship prioritizes students historically underrepresented in study abroad, including first-generation college students, racial and ethnic minority students, and those attending community colleges. These and other criteria apply to many students at Florida Gateway College. Virtually any student receiving a Pell Grant is eligible to apply.

For more information on FGC’s study abroad program, the Gilman Scholarship, and for updates on upcoming programs, visit www.fgc.edu/studyabroad and contact study.abroad@fgc.edu.

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