Study Abroad scholarship winner announced

Through the scholarships, Harrington will travel to Malaga, Spain, this summer to study intensive Spanish. Malaga is a small coastal beach town on the Mediterranean Sea. She chose the location to experience Europe and to improve her Spanish.

The Steve Taylor Study Abroad Scholarship is a Chadron State Foundation scholarship funded by Taylor, a former CSC employee, and his wife, Janice. The scholarship was started in 2005 and is awarded annually to CSC students planning to study abroad.

According to the Foundation, Taylor created the scholarship due to his love of travel and he wanted to help more students have that experience. While at CSC, he worked to bring international students to campus. He also assisted with developing study abroad trips because he felt students learned more about the world from seeing and experiencing it themselves.

The ISA Summer Pathways Scholarship was created in memory of Michaela Farnum, a Seattle University student who died following a hiking accident while studying in Chile in 2007, and is awarded to students at affiliate colleges who display merit and exhibit financial need while studying abroad in an ISA program.

Harrington, a sophomore Human Biology major with a minor in Nutrition, said she applied for the scholarships because studying abroad was her dream, but was hampered by affordability.

“Unfortunately, study abroad can be very expensive, so I tried to seek any opportunity to help with this financial burden. I am so grateful for the help these scholarships provided,” Harrington said. .”

She will leave for Malaga May 26 and return August 1, traveling with an ISA group of other American students. During her time studying abroad, she also hopes to visit Italy, Switzerland, Portugal, Morocco, and France.

Previously, Harrington enjoyed travel to Mexico and Puerto Rico.

“Experiencing different cultures really opens your eyes to the different ways and viewpoints of life,” Harrington said.

She also views traveling to Spain as beneficial for her future career as a pre-medicine student.

“My goal this summer in Spain is to improve my Spanish for my future career as a doctor and shadow healthcare facilities in Spain to learn how their healthcare system works,” Harrington said.

She sees the importance of speaking Spanish as a second language and feels it will help her be able to better connect with more patients.

“As a pre-medicine student, I know it will be very important for me to be culturally aware and connect with my patients,” Harrington said. “This is a big reason why I want to improve my Spanish. Until you try to learn a different language, you do not fully understand how difficult it is. This experience has made me motivated to learn the Spanish language so I will be able to help my patients who speak Spanish as their first language.”

Harrington, a participant in the Rural Health Opportunities Program, is aware of the high demand for bilingual physicians and hopes she can help fulfill that need.

She will earn 12 credit hours for written, oral, and photography projects she submits during the summer. In addition to coursework, she’s planning cultural excursions to Alhambra, an ancient Islamic palace and fortress, Pablo Picasso’s birthplace, and several other sites.

—Molly Langhorst