BY ALYSSA SCHUYLER, Assistant Layout Editor
Danielle Ferguson is an international student from Northern Ireland who received a scholarship from the British Consulate. The scholarship is called Study USA and is geared to give a business edge to students. Last year the scholarship offered 150 spots to fill, but this year the spots were cut down to 75 which led to Ferguson to be in a more competitive race for this scholarship. The scholarship is specifically for business, and those who receive the Study USA scholarship must take four business classes and one elective each semester so she will return to Northern Ireland with a new international edge in the business world.
The Study USA program was developed is the 1990s and grew from 19 students in 1994 to 165 students in later years. There are 34 different states where applicants from Study USA can be sent and those who receive the scholarship can do research on the schools for their interviews which is when they are being matched to what school they will be attending. “I’m so glad I got it, because it’s like the best one out of everyone.” Ferguson said about being able to attend Saint Leo University. During the interview process students are given a list with their choices of schools and students are able to do research on the schools they would like to attend and they are also matched by academic abilities, personality, and what the student wants to gain from the experience. “Over here it’s really personal.” Ferguson said when comparing her university in Northern Ireland to Saint Leo University.
The purpose of the Study USA scholarship Ferguson says is to “Learn all these business skills which we’re going to bring back to Northern Ireland and sort of implement them into our economy, so it’ll sort of help us boost our economy.” The program is designed to give these students an edge over others because of the experience in being in another country and learning about business in another country as well.
Since this is a business focused scholarship Ferguson has been utilizing the new Donald R. Tapia Business Building. Ferguson is actually a Psychology major with a minor in law, but could not pass up this opportunity to broaden her education. As a part of this scholarship Ferguson has to do five presentations on her scholarship and the opportunity that American students have to go to Ireland.
To go along with this program there is an Irish American Scholars opportunity for American students to study in Northern Ireland. Schools that are a part of this program are able to send up to three students a year to be a part of this program and the students must be either junior or senior standing with a 3.2 GPA. The application is due Feb 1.
