Shannon Spears of Dripping Springs Receives Scholarship to Study in Japan

GEORGETOWN, TX (12/22/2011)(readMedia)-- Shannon Spears of Dripping Springs has been awarded a Benjamin Gilman International Scholarship for the spring 2012 semester. The scholarships, which are highly competitive, help U.S. undergraduate students pursue academic studies abroad.

Spears will use her scholarship to study at Chukyo University in Nagoya, Japan.

Spears is a junior at Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas, and is majoring in biology. She would like to become a Japanese-English/Spanish-English translator specializing in the natural sciences.

The Gilman International Scholarship Program is sponsored by the U.S. Department of State and is administered by the Institute of International Education. It is intended to better prepare U.S. students to assume significant roles in an increasingly global economy and interdependent world. Students are encouraged to choose non-traditional study abroad destinations, particularly areas outside of Western Europe and Australia.

Scholarship recipients are selected on the basis of an application plus a proposal for a "follow on project" that will be completed after they return from study abroad. Spears plans to maintain a video blog that can be found at japanalicious.tumblr.com.

Southwestern University is a selective, nationally recognized undergraduate liberal arts college with an enrollment of 1,350 students. It is the oldest institution of higher learning in Texas. For more information on Southwestern, visit www.southwestern.edu.