WINSTED, CT – August 10, 2020 – Northwestern Connecticut College is pleased to announce that Robert Fecteau, a History student and member of the History Association, is the recent recipient of a Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship.
The Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship Program is a program of the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs with funding provided by the U.S. government, and is supported in its implementation by the Institute of International Education (IIE). “The applicant pool was highly competitive,” the U.S. State Department affirms, making Fecteau’s selection “an impressive accomplishment.”
The U.S. Department of State sponsors and oversees the Gilman Program as part of its effort to expand the number of Americans studying and interning abroad, thereby gaining skills that are critical to our national security and prosperity.
Fecteau was awarded the scholarship to participate in a study abroad trip to Germany with Northwestern Connecticut Community College’s Study Abroad program. The trip is scheduled to take place in June of 2021.
Northwestern’s study abroad program was launched in 2019 through a Capacity Building grant from the State Department as well as an Advanced Technology Education International grant from the National Science Foundation. The college has hosted two international trips so far. The first was in March 2019 to Paris and Nancy, France where faculty members Jessica Treat, Sharon Gusky and Crystal Wiggins met with faculty from the Institute of Technology at the University of Lorraine. A second trip brought seven NCCC students in January 2020 to Spain where students visited the historical and culturally rich cities of Barcelona, Toledo, and Madrid, along with several manufacturing and educational sites. The trip to Germany in 2021 will be the third trip offered in this program.
This unique program offers students and faculty opportunities to receive cultural enrichment, to learn about educational and internship opportunities abroad, and to participate in meaningful and potentially life-changing experiences.
As Robert Fecteau wrote in his application essay “I used to have this silly idea when I was a kid: that “distant places” I only heard about in movies, books or conversation existed only in my imagination. It only seemed to reason that if these recurring references to fantastical places like “San Francisco” or “Paris” or even “Germany” were real, then life would have to present some sort of opportunity for me to experience them.”
As a Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship recipient, Robert Fecteau will also engage in a service project following completion of the trip and looks forward to sharing what he has learned with the community. “If my experiences abroad could inspire just one person to study abroad who otherwise wouldn’t have, that would mean a world of difference to me. I know I’ll have forever changed their life, like I know this trip will change mine”, said Fecteau.
For more information about Northwestern’s study abroad program, contact Jessica Treat, Study Abroad Coordinator and Professor of English and Spanish at: jtreat@nwcc.edu.