Each semester, hundreds of students apply to be considered for an Ashley Soulé Conroy Scholarship for Study Abroad. The selection process seems to get more difficult and competitive with each passing year but we always know when we’ve landed on the right recipients to represent Ashley’s Foundation. This Fall, three talented, intelligent, and ambitious women have traveled to Brazil, Cuba, and Ireland where they’re representing Ashley’s Foundation. Read on to get to know each of their backgrounds, stories, and hopes for what their travels might hold!
I am an uprising junior majoring in sociology and Portuguese with a minor in education. I am very excited to be able to study abroad in Brazil because I will be taking sociology courses that focus on Latin America. As a Latina student, it is my personal goal to learn about inequalities that affect my Latinx community. I am eager for my studying abroad journey to begin because it will help me acquire language and structural models to better understand how to talk about my community in my academic work. I am also excited to intern at a local school in Brazil because in the future I hope to teach in a large Lusophone community in Massachusetts. I am thrilled to be in a new environment that will help me grow as a student and as an individual. I love to read books about Latin American history and I love watching Everybody Hates Chris on Hulu.
I want to give a big shout out to everyone in the Ashley Foundation who read my essay and believed in my potential. Thank you to all the donors who help students like me be able to study abroad!
Hugs,
Glorimar
Hey all! My name is Alexus and I’m in my second year of undergraduate study at the University of Alabama. I was previously a pre-medical biology major, but am in the process of switching to nursing. I have been volunteering at our local hospital since I started college, and my time there is almost always the highlight of my week! My time volunteering at the hospital is what has motivated me to switch to nursing, as the level of patient contact and compassion I have seen in the nurses there is truly inspiring to me. Along with my passion for healthcare, I adore animals, reading, and being outdoors. My love for nature and the outdoors is one of the reasons I am so excited for my upcoming semester on the ‘Emerald Isle’! Ireland is a country that has always spoken to me; from the rich literary history (being the birthplace of one of my favorite writers) to the “hundred thousand welcomes” culture, I can’t wait to explore it. I look forward to my trip and sharing all of the amazing experiences I will surely have!
Hello! Greetings from Havana Cuba! My name is Emmely Tot Mairena. I am currently a senior at Mills College in Oakland, California. One of my life dreams has been to go to Cuba and immerse myself in such a rich and powerful culture. Having grown up in a low income single mother household has strongly shaped my life goals and aspirations. So not only do I bring with me the drive passed down to me by generations but also the knowledge gained from my studies. I’ll be graduating with a major in Ethnic Studies and PEPL (Politics, Economics, Policy, and Legal Studies) and a minor in Urban Education. In the future, I would like to continue traveling and focus on research that centers the experiences of those push to the margins. In the end, I want to inspire folks, just like Ashley did.
