Wheaton News

The trio studied abroad in Ireland, Germany and Sweden

Three students from the Class of 2025 earned a Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship to study abroad in Europe this year.

Sydney Alves traveled to Ireland, Clara Gonsalves studied in Sweden and Davina Sienkiewicz went to Germany.

Gilman scholarships, awarded by the U.S. State Department, are given to undergraduates who might not otherwise study abroad due to financial restraints. The program awards up to $5,000 and is intended to provide students “with skills critical to [American] national security and economic prosperity.”

All three students have been able to take courses—and in some cases engage in internships—that supplement their academic studies on campus in Norton.

Alves, an English and secondary education major with a minor in dance, has spent the summer in Dublin taking classes at the University College Dublin and interning at the Independent Theatre Workshop, a dance and singing school.

Alves said traveling to Ireland was her first time outside America, and she praised Wheaton’s professors for not only encouraging her to go abroad, but also for making her aware of the Gilman scholarship.

“Above all else, Wheaton has a resource for everything,” Alves said. “Being a first-generation college student, I had no idea how any of this worked. I never thought I was going to go abroad, so really having people who know what they’re doing, who have done this before, encouraging me and holding my hand every step of the way has been really wonderful.”

She said her goal is to attend graduate school and teach high school English, though she would also consider dancing professionally.

Gonsalves—a criminal justice, restorative justice, and criminology major with a minor in psychology—studied abroad during the spring semester in Stockholm. She took forensic science, psychology and Swedish courses, and lived with a host family.

“Besides being convenient for my major, it confirmed that this is the path I want to take in the future with my career,” Gonsalves said. “All of my classes really emphasized my passion for criminal justice and restorative justice.”

She said one of her courses on human trafficking in a global context set up a good foundation for her internship this summer with an anti-trafficking organization. The nonprofit Roxbury Youthworks, located in Boston, helps trafficked youth by providing them with educational and professional skills.

Gonsalves commends Wheaton for cultivating a diverse campus and for incentivizing students to study abroad, especially those with monetary restraints.

“Besides financial aid, Wheaton was really substantial in promoting the Gilman scholarship,” she said. “Being in a community and at an institution with such diversity where we’re encouraged to explore other cultures and backgrounds, and being in an environment with so many diverse peers, it really prepared me for Sweden.”

For Davina Sienkiewicz, who is half German, studying in her mother’s homeland at the University of Regensburg was an easy decision, not only to rediscover her heritage, but also because her courses count toward her majors.

She’s double majoring in German studies and international relations with a minor in journalism studies. She’s also part of Wheaton’s Liberal Education and Professional Success program, which puts students on a pre-professional track to a specific career. She is on the path to teach a second language.

Sienkiewicz said that as an international relations major, studying abroad is important because it allows her to cultivate a different perspective and learn flexibility and adaptability in a new culture.

“Receiving the Gilman is a pretty high honor especially since I’m studying international relations,” she said. “It comes from the State Department of the U.S., specifically for building international relations on a diplomatic level, so that also felt like a high honor.

“The social experience of being an international student in a foreign country is also really important. It’s given me a lot of resources that I can bring back to Wheaton.”

Sienkiewicz also will be studying abroad in Bhutan for the fall semester.

—By Scott Enman ’15