Left to right: Lily Herman â26, Brett Bower â26, Cleopatra Doherty â27, Ashley Ilarraza â26, and Anamaria Santos Mendez â26. (91șÚÁÏÍű photo/Matt Burkhartt)
In a national competition, five 91șÚÁÏÍű students have won 2025â26 for study abroad: Brett Bower â26 (Ireland), Cleopatra Doherty â27 (Peru), Lily Herman â26 (UK), Ashley Ilarraza â26 (Ireland), and Anamaria Santos Mendez â26 (South Korea). Since the collegeâs first award in 2007, 61 Geneseo students have won Gilman scholarships.
The State Department award financially assists US undergraduates of limited financial means in pursuing academic studies or credit-bearing, career-oriented internships abroad. The goal is to prepare students better to assume significant roles in an increasingly global economy and interdependent world.
Brett Bower, from Ontario, NY, is an English and adolescence education double major with a minor in philosophy. He will spend the summer in Sligo, Ireland, at the Yeats International Summer School studying the poetry of W.B. Yeats on a study abroad program led by English professors Rob Doggett and Caroline Woidat. Bowerâs ancestors come from Ireland, but he will be the first to visit and âlearn about a renowned Irish poet in the place he lived and wrote about, as well as the land and its people.â
Cleopatra Doherty, a psychology major from Newton, NJ, will travel to Cusco, Peru, this summer for an intensive Spanish program. After graduation, she plans to earn a masterâs degree in social work for a career âreaching out to Americaâs jeopardized and minority groups, especially Spanish speakers who have been historically disadvantaged and are more likely to be impoverished.â
Lily Herman, from Trumansburg, NY, is a history and adolescence education double major with a minor in political science. She will spend the summer at the University of Stirling in Scotland, taking two courses, â18th Century: Union, Rebellionâ and âEnlightenment and Conflict and Religion.â Herman is intrigued to learn about âreligious faith and conflict from a European perspective, a continent with a long and rich spiritual history.â
Ashley Ilarraza, a psychology major and first-generation student from Queens, NY, grew up loving poetry and hearing Venezuelan stories from her immigrant parents. This summer, she will take her first trip overseas to Sligo, Ireland, to enrich her knowledge of poetry. Understanding how Irish culture is celebrated aligns with her planned career in social work and âwill deepen my understanding of the benefits of spaces where people can celebrate their heritage as well as the importance of community engagement and cultural expression.â
Anamaria Santos Mendez, from Bronx, NY, is a finance major who will spend Fall 2025 in Seoul, South Korea, at Sogang University. Mendez, a first-generation student of Mexican immigrant parents, believes financial literacy is key to breaking down barriers that hold underrepresented communities in a continuous cycle of poverty. âExposure to South Koreaâs international financial systems will give me knowledge of innovative tools to help first-generation individuals and minority communities in the US build wealth and make informed economic decisions.â
Gilman Awards at Geneseo
In Spring 2025, the US Department of State awarded the Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship to study abroad to 3,500 American undergraduate students from all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Over 70 percent of the selected students are from rural areas and small towns across the United States, and 55 percent are first-generation college students. Gilman Scholars are US undergraduate students with high financial need as federal Pell Grant recipients. The Gilman Program received a record high of 17,000 applications across the 2024â25 academic year.
The Gilman application cycle for Spring and Summer 2026 will open in mid-August 2025. Students and alumni seeking more information about and assistance with applications for the Gilman International Scholarship and any other fellowship or scholarship program should visit National Fellowships and Scholarships or contact Michael Mills, director of national fellowships and scholarships, at millsm@geneseo.edu.
âMichael Mills