Over 40 Whitties Receive Prestigious Honors for 2018-2019

More than 40 students and alumni from Whitman College received fellowships, grants or scholarships from prestigious programs during the 2018-2019 academic year.

The recipients are also among the college's most diverse: more than 40 percent represent first-generation students or those from diverse background, according to Keith Raether, director of the Office of Fellowships and Grants.

Significant among the awards were three firsts for Whitman: Nina Finley '17 was the first Whitman alumna to receive a Marshall Scholarship; Samuel Curtis '16 was the college's first recipient of the Schwarzman Scholarship; and Onon Bayasgalan '09 was the college's first recipient of the Gates Cambridge Scholarship.

Bayasgalan is the first person from Mongolia to receive the Gates Cambridge Scholarship. She is studying conservation leadership at the Department of Geology at the University of Cambridge.

Curtis, who majored in biochemistry, biophysics and molecular biology, was among 147 students from a worldwide pool of 2,887 applicants to receive the Schwarzman award, and began his studies at Tsinghua University in Beijing in August. He is studying public policy, international studies, economics and business with an emphasis on cultural immersion.

Including Finley, a biology and environmental studies graduate, only 48 candidates were selected as 2019 Marshall Scholars from a field of more than 1,000 nominees. Finley will spend two years in the United Kingdom working toward two master's degrees. In her first year, she'll study in a joint program of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and the Royal Veterinary College to pursue a Master of Science in One Health. During her second year, she plans to read for a Master of Research in evolution, biodiversity and conservation at the University College London.

Since 2004, nearly 450 Whitman alumni or students have received fellowships and grants from 70 of the world's most competitive scholarly programs.

Also among this year's recipients are Cello Lockwood '19, an environmental studies-economics major who received the Watson Fellowship to study horse culture around the globe.

Additional 2018-2019 recipients of prestigious awards include:

Fulbright U.S. Student Program

• Ashley Weibel '19 (English teaching assistantship, Colombia)
• Lukas Koester '19 (English teaching assistantship, Bulgaria)
• Rachel Loe '19 (English teaching assistantship, Germany)
• Chris Hankin '18 (English teaching assistantship, Taiwan,)

Austrian Teaching Assistants Program (USTA, administered by Fulbright Austria)

• Olivia Gilbert '19 (English teaching assistantship, Tulln an der Donau)
• Lukas Koester '19 (English teaching assistantship, alternate, declined)
• Rachel Loe '19 (English teaching assistantship, alternate, declined)

National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship

• Alex Honeyman '16 (environmental engineering, Colorado School of Mines)
• Nina Finley '17 (ecology, declined)

National Institutes of Health/IRTA (Post-baccalaureate Intramural Research Training Award)

• Morrow Toomey '17 (National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research, Bethesda, Maryland, awarded in 2017-18)
• Kuba Jeffers '16 (National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, Bethesda, Maryland, awarded in 2017-18)

Boren Undergraduate Scholarship

• Rhone Grajcar '21 (yearlong undergraduate study in language and history, India)

Erasmus Mundus Scholarship

• Marcial Díaz Mejía '13 (joint master's degree program, University of Padova, KU Leuven, and the Sorbonne)

French Teaching Assistants Program (TAPIF)

• Bassel Jamali '19 (English teaching assistantship, Nantes)
• Eleanor Matson '19 (English teaching assistantship, Rennes)
• Allison Hall '19 (English teaching assistantship, Nantes)
• Matthew Schetina '19 (English teaching assistantship, Toulouse)
• Meg Englert '19 (English teaching assistantship, Grenoble)
• Maeve McCracken '19 (English teaching assistantship, Aix-Marseille-Provence)
• Ema Di Fruscia '19 (English teaching assistantship, Nice)
• Bailey Super '19 (English teaching assistantship, Aix-Marseille-Provence)
• Megan Gleason '18 (English teaching assistantship, Normandy)
• Caroline Bauwens '19 (English Teaching assistantship, declined award)

American Association of University Women International Master's/First Professional Degree Fellowship

• Faith Nyakundi '17 (graduate study, University of Washington)

Critical Language Scholarship (U.S. Department of State)

• Kari Hampson '19 (Korean, Pusan National University, Busan, Korea)

Public Policy and International Affairs Fellowship

• Aisha Kimbrough '19 (summer institute in economics and domestic and international policy, University of Minnesota, awarded in 2017-18)

Amgen Scholars Program

• Andreas Guerrero '20 (science research, Washington University, awarded in 2017-18)

Princeton in Asia Fellowship

• Alexander Guzy-Sprague '17 (Vietnam News, Hanoi)

Davis Projects for Peace

• Erina Horikawa '19 ("Socially Engaged Theater: Peace Through Community-Building")
• Maddy Gold '19 ("Socially Engaged Theater: Peace Through Community-Building")
• Donovan Olsen '19 ("Socially Engaged Theater: Peace Through Community-Building")

FAO Schwarz Fellowship

• Annie Want '17 (Food Trust, Philadelphia)

Gilman International Scholarship

• Miguel Baza '20 (Spain)
• Kylin Brown '20 (Turks & Caicos)
• Christina Dilworth '20 (Argentina)
• Emily Rigsby '20 (Austria)
• Benjamin Haas '20 (alternate, Czech Republic)
• McKenna Nguyen '20 (alternate, Japan)
• Nathaly Perez '20 (alternate, Italy)

Spanish Teaching Assistants Program (NALCA)

• Aisha Kimbrough '19 (English teaching assistantship, Andalucia)
• Maddy Gold '19 (English teaching assistantship, Andalucia)
• Madelyn Poehlein '18 (English teaching assistantship, Balearic Islands)
• Jessie Paul '19 (English teaching assistantship, Balearic Islands)

Japan Exchange and Teaching Programme

• Celia Langford '19 (coordinator for international relations)
• Elsa Hager '19 (assistant language teacher, declined)
• Robby Boyer '18 (assistant language teacher)
• Alex Lee '18 (assistant language teacher, awarded in 2018)
• Chris Meabe '18 (assistant language teacher, awarded in 2018)
• Gabe Jacobson '18 (assistant language teacher, awarded in 2018)

Mitchell Scholarship

• Zach Duffy '12 (finalist)