Thanks to the generosity of multiple donors, the Residential College has again awarded many RC students funding to support them in opportunities to study and intern abroad and domestically. Awards were distributed this year from the Donald and June Brown Fund, the Amy Rose Silverman International Education Fund and Engaged Learning Fund, the Honeli Fund, and the David and Sylvia Nelson Fund. Due to our donors’ generosity, we were able to distribute $49,284 to 38 students for experiences taking place in 2019. Several students will be studying in programs in Grenoble, Barcelona, Cuba, Paris and other locations, while others will be interning over the summer including at the U.S. Department of State in Mexico City, with a member of Parliament in the Canadian House of Commons in Ottawa, and creating programming for at-risk youth in San José, Costa Rica. Some will be participating in Semester in Detroit, a cohort-based RC program that recently celebrated its 10th anniversary and was founded by several RC and U-M students. Several students will be contributing to projects in Ecuador, including at the student-run Quito Project, whose mission is to minimize the achievement gap for primary school students in low opportunity areas of Quito through education, and by contributing to an oral history project in a remote rural area of the country.

“I am humbled and extraordinarily privileged to have this opportunity to engage with other university students and with children in a country with which I have many personal and cultural ties, and I look forward to help teach the campers English while they also teach me about their own lives in a city and country that I am unfamiliar with.”

“With this scholarship and your support, I can continue to live by my life motto to "Dream big, set goals & take action". This motto and the support that I receive from my U-M community is what drives me in working hard to reach my ultimate career goal in politics and law as a future International Law Attorney (who one day hopes to work for our state or federal government dealing with international affairs). That is why I want to say from the bottom of my heart, thank you so much for believing in me and providing financial support.”

“As a first generation college student that goes to this university on a need-based scholarship, I would not be able to utilize my Spring/Summer semesters to learn and get real world experience without funding like the RC is able to offer. Not only can I take on the opportunities presented to me, but I can do it without having so much anxiety about money that the experience is difficult. I am so happy to be part of the Residential College's community.”

“This will be my first international travel and first independent travel. I could not be more excited to experience the culture of Madrid and discover many new things through my experience abroad.”

The Social Justice and Community Engagement Internships In Brazil

For the first time this year, the RC partnered with the Brazil Initiative at the LSA Center for Latin American Studies to offer a fully funded fellowship for Spring term 2019 at the Federal University of Minas Gerais in Brazil. One student was awarded $3,000 to intern from 4-8 weeks for social projects with governmental or non-governmental organizations focused on social issues theater, sustainability, youth empowerment, and human rights for the homeless. This opportunity was launched by the vision of RC and LACS Associate Professor, Sueann Caulfield.

The David and Sylvia Nelson Award for Unpaid Internships in Creative Writing

The Creative Writing and Literature program of the RC, headed by RC alumna ‘88 and faculty member Laura Thomas, awarded funding for creative writing students in unpaid summer internships through the David and Sylvia Nelson Award. Two students were each awarded a $2,500 stipend to help support their unpaid summer work with non-profit publishers this summer. In addition to the Nelson Award, two other Creative Writing students received financial support from the Brown Fund to attend the Bear River Writers’ Conference in late May and early June, co-directed by RC alumna ‘84 and Creative Writing Professor Laura Kasischke.

Thank you

Thank you to our generous donors who provide one-time, annual and monthly gifts to these Residential College funds. Your support provides the means for our students to enhance their learning exponentially with global and domestic experiences far afield from East Quadrangle. As one awardee puts it, “Thank you to everyone who is helping me make this opportunity a reality! I will have a better understanding of what my career path would look like. I am beyond grateful.”