UNG named Boren top producer

The University of North Georgia (UNG) has been named a top producer of Boren Scholarship winners for 2022-23.

UNG tied for seventh nationally and tied for first in Georgia with five Boren recipients. The University of Georgia (UGA) was the other Georgia university with as many winners.

Boren scholars are awarded financial assistance up to $25,000 for educational coursework, unpaid internships or volunteer opportunities, primarily overseas, for immersion in languages critical to U.S. diplomacy. In exchange, students agree to work for the U.S. federal government for at least a year and receive coaching and mentoring upon their return to facilitate this objective.

Indiana University topped the list with 11 recipients, followed by Brigham Young University and the University of Chicago with 10, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with seven, and the University of South Carolina and the University of Southern California with six. Four other schools tied UNG and UGA with five winners.

UNG's Boren recipients for 2022-23 were:

• Thorin Beard, a senior pursuing a degree in East Asian studies. He is part of UNG's Chinese Language Flagship, and spent the academic year completing his capstone in Taiwan.
• Jessica Woods, a senior pursuing a degree in East Asian studies with a concentration in Korean and a minor in Russian, studied Korean and took other courses at Sogang University. A former dual enrollee at UNG and Lanier Technical College, Woods was successful in her second attempt applying for Boren.
• Zoe Rumbaugh, a senior who is part of the Chinese Language Flagship and the Honors Program, spent the academic year in Monterey, California, at the Chinese Flagship Domestic Immersion Capstone. She is pursuing degrees in East Asian studies and modern languages with a Chinese for global professionals concentration.
• Danielle Kent, a senior pursuing a degree in international affairs with a concentration in Asia, studied Japanese for the 2022-23 academic year at Nanzan University.
• Caleb Petersen, a senior Honors Program student pursuing a degree in cybersecurity and minoring in Japanese, planned to spend summer 2022 studying Japanese at Nanzan University before COVID-19 canceled the trip. Instead, he took part in UNG's Japanese Summer Language Institute in 2022.

Kent said Dr. Tomoe Nishio, associate professor of Japanese, and the Center for Global Engagement prepared her well for her experience in Japan and helped her get to Nanzan. Boren allowed her to change from a semester study abroad to a full academic year. She said Dr. Anastasia Lin, director of the Nationally Competitive Scholarships office, helped her for three weeks fine-tuning her essay and application. Kent aspires to work in the State Department, potentially as a Foreign Service officer, and use her Japanese language skills to promote cross-cultural cooperation.

Beard was thankful for the advice of Dr. Victoria Hightower, assistant director of the Nationally Competitive Scholarships office, in helping him secure the Boren and UNG's Chinese faculty in sparking his passion for the language.

"Having the opportunity to study abroad has been a highlight of my college career. I am thankful that I strived for it, managed to go so far out of my comfort zone and succeeded," Beard said. "There were hard times and times when I thought it wasn't worth it, but I'm thrilled I was able to see so many places in Taiwan, talk to so many people and learn so much."

Woods plans to work in diplomacy or intelligence analysis. The year abroad thanks to Boren was the first time she traveled outside the United States.

"I have learned so much linguistically and socially," Woods said. "Learning Korean in a Korean context has helped me improve quite a bit."

Hightower pointed to the resilience of UNG students in pursuing opportunities abroad in the aftermath of so many cancellations due to COVID-19. She highlighted the mentorship throughout the application process as pivotal for these students.

"We have top-quality language and content programs. Our students are incredibly equipped for these opportunities, but they don't always see themselves that way," Hightower said. "We encourage them to realize they can do this."