Summer Grants Boost Student Experience
Marlboro recently awarded more the $55,000 in grants to students desiring to extend their studies beyond campus this summer, significantly enriching their educational experience. Funds from Christian Johnson Endeavor Fund International Experience Grants, Summer Language Grants, Environmental Internship Grants, Geiger Grants for Student Travel, and Summer Internship Grants were awarded to 25 students for projects both near and far.
“These grants exemplify Marlboro’s commitment to global citizenship, to connecting across cultures in meaningful ways that support each student’s individualized course of study,” said Kevin Quigley, president. “We are so impressed with the global perspective students bring to their academic inquiry, and thanks to our generous donors we are pleased to be able to support this level of international engagement.”
“Through my research I will explore what is lost in translation as music is passed between people, and how the music is altered and shaped by transmission to different environments and cultures,” said junior Clayton Clemetson. He received a Christian Johnson Endeavor Fund (CJEF) International Experience Grant to study ethnomusicology on the island of Corsica.
Other CJEF grants are supporting student travel and research in France, Indonesia, Dominican Republic, Germany, South Korea, and the South Caucasus. Junior Leni Charbonneau will do her World Studies Program internship in Japan, with support from CJEF and the Summer Internship Grant, where she will be a research assistant in the sociology department at Hokkaido University. She will also be attending a conference and doing Plan research on the environmental and social impacts of the recent Nibutani Dam on Ainu communities.
“I have received incredible guidance and mentorship among the faculty at Marlboro College, to whom I am most grateful,” said Leni, pictured right during last summer’s research in Republic of Georgia. “Their guidance has prepared me for inquiry in the field that will build upon my Plan as it deals with themes of environmental perceptions, social injustice, and the rich history of the region.”
With support from a Summer Language Grant, freshman Phoenix Bieneman is one of two students who will attend a “Living Latin in Rome” program at the Paideia Institute, where they will enjoy five weeks of intensive language study. “The program will connect me with other Latin scholars, and I will be able to strengthen my own knowledge of the language in a way that is out of my grasp here, when I am focusing on so many things at once during the school year,” said Phoenix. Other students are going to Mexico, and France with Summer Language Grant support.
Closer to home, Lydia Nuhfer received an Environmental Internship Grant to conduce a plant species inventory at South Pond, Marlboro, where there are some previously documented rare aquatic species. “Being able to survey the plant life at South Pond will be an incredible academic opportunity,” said Lydia. “It will provide me both with the field work skills and actual data to begin Plan with a firm foundation of knowledge. An exploratory inventory, furthermore, has practical value in our larger Marlboro town community, especially for any conservation or management efforts at South Pond.”
Environmental Internship Grants will also support ecological research in Ontario, ethnobotanical research in Panama, a farm apprenticeship in Maine, and an edible landscape project right on campus, adjacent to the community garden. Other grants are supporting everything from an arts internship in Hawaii to a professional training program at the Bates Dance Festival in Lewiston, Maine. The Geiger Grant for Student Travel is supporting sophomore Karla Ramos and senior Saron Zewdie to perform at the Edinburgh Fringe Theatre Festival.
“Each of these projects is adventurous in its own way, and supportive of the self-designed academic journey that Marlboro prides itself in,” said Maggie Patari, director of global learning and international services. “We are proud to support these students in their far-flung endeavors, and look forward to ways they can further enrich the experience of others on campus.”