Students earn scholarships to study in France, Thailand

Two Youngstown State University students will study in France and Thailand next semester thanks in part to the prestigious Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship.

Alicia Herman of Warren was awarded a $4,500 scholarship to study at Universite Lumiere Lyon 2 in France, while Sulerach R. Rivera of Boardman received $5,500 to study at Chiang Mai University in Thailand.

The Gilman scholarship, sponsored by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, has provided awards to more than 24,000 undergraduate college students since 2001.

In the last five years, more than 20 YSU students have received the scholarships to study in Russia, Thailand, Spain, India, China, United Kingdom, Turkey, South Korea, Cyprus, Germany, France, Dominican Republic and Japan.

Herman, a 2015 graduate of Warren JFK High School, is a junior at YSU pursuing a major in Political Science and Economics with a minor in French and is part of the YSU Honors College. In Lyon, she will be studying the French language intensively.

Rivera, a graduate of Boardman High School, is a sophomore with a major in International Business and a minor in Interdisciplinary Arts. Rivera said she chose to study in Thailand because it is her country of heritage. She said she grew up without the language and is the only one in her family who does not speak Thai. She said she is planning to study abroad again in the near future, perhaps at Lunghwa University in Taiwan, to further her international business knowledge to learn Chinese.