Carissa Tinker of Bar Harbor receives the Saint Michael's College Marta Umanzor Study-Abroad Scholarship

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Saint Michael's student Carissa Tinker of Bar Harbor studies in Ecuador

COLCHESTER, VT (07/20/2010)(readMedia)-- Saint Michael's College student Carissa Tinker will be venturing far from home this fall as she carries out a study-abroad service-learning project in Quito, Ecuador. Ms. Malone, the daughter of Marie Hooper of Bar Harbor and Larry Tinker of Mt. Desert, was awarded a $1,000 stipend to support her research through the SMC Marta Umanzor Study Abroad Scholarship program.

Ms. Tinker, who is double majoring in political science and Spanish, received strong endorsement for her work in advanced Spanish (#433) from her professor, Dr. Carolyn Lukens-Olsen.

The scholarship, established by Ellen Bernstein, a student of retired SMC Professor Marta Umanzor, honors the professor's "skill as a teacher of Spanish language, her ability to breathe life into Spanish literature, and her devotion to and love for her students."

Of her program Ms. Tinker said, "While spending four months in Quito and attending a local university, I will also be completing about 20 hours of service per week."

About this adventure she said, "I fell in love with Ecuador when I visited the country during my senior in high school to bring a service-learning project to completion. After seeing the conditions in the country, I knew that I could never return to South America without doing some sort of service work again." She hopes to work at an orphanage or as a tutor.

Learn What Matters at Saint Michael's College, The Edmundite Catholic liberal arts college, www.smcvt.edu . Saint Michael's provides education with a social conscience, producing graduates with the intellectual tools to lead successful, purposeful lives that will contribute to peace and justice in our world. Founded in 1904 by the Society of St. Edmund and headed by President John J. Neuhauser, Saint Michael's College is located three miles from Burlington, Vermont, one of America's top college towns. It is identified by the Princeton Review as one of the nation's Best 371 Colleges, and will be included in the 2011 Fiske Guide to Colleges. Saint Michael's is one of only 270 colleges and universities nationwide, one of only 20 Catholic colleges, with a Phi Beta Kappa chapter. Saint Michael's has 1,900 undergraduate students, some 500 graduate students and 100 international students. Saint Michael's students and professors have received Rhodes, Woodrow Wilson, Pickering, Guggenheim, Fulbright, and other grants. The college is one of the nation's Best Liberal Arts Colleges as listed in the 2009 U.S. News & World Report rankings.

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