Melinda Whalen, Scholar

With the overarching ambition of professorship in mind, I have dedicated my studies to exploring the development of Soviet culture during the WWII and Cold War periods. My majors in History: War and Society and Russian Language, Literature, and Culture have allowed me to closely examine Soviet identity through the use of language in artistic media. With my current level of Russian, I have been able to analyze short texts in their original Russian and derive a more nuanced understanding from the cultural or grammatical implications of various words. In the future, I hope to be able to conduct in-depth analysis of Soviet documents in their original Russian and interview subjects in Russian. I am currently focused on my research project on child diarists from the Siege of Leningrad and the ways in which they perceive gender in the supposedly genderless Soviet society. My interests in Soviet history and the Russian language are inextricably linked; my study of one enhances the other, allowing for my research to be culturally informed and my understanding of Russian to be historically contextualized.

I applied for the Beinecke scholarship to widen the selection of graduate schools I can apply to but also to help alleviate the hefty costs of studying in Russia. Receiving language training and absorbing the culture in Russia is essential to my eventual goal of achieving proficiency in Russian and being able to conduct research in the language. This scholarship would help cover the cost of my PhD program and allow me to reallocate that money saved to funding exchange programs and research trips. It is my hope that the more time I spend abroad, the closer I come to fully understanding the language and the culture, which is crucial to my reconstruction of Soviet life under Stalin.

Melinda’s near and long-term goals:
After graduation, I plan to take a gap year to study in Russia to further sharpen my language skills and deepen my understanding of Russian culture before returning to the US for graduate school. I will work towards a PhD in History while improving my ability to conduct research in Russian by spending time abroad through exchange programs and independent study trips. Following graduate school, I plan to work towards securing a professorship in either an American or Russian institution.

Melinda’s tips for future Beinecke Scholarship campus applicants:
This application isn’t just a matter of listing accomplishments and awards, it’s really about showing the committee how much you care about what you’re doing and explaining to them why it’s so important to you in an academic sense but also in a personal sense. Your work isn’t just what you do, it’s who you are.

Sophia Carey, Scholar

Congratulations Sophia! Read the UAA news story announcing Sophia’s selection as a Beinecke Scholar.

Sophia Carey is a junior at the University of Washington studying English and the Comparative History of Ideas with a minor in Theatre Studies. She entered the UW through the Early Entrance Program at the Robinson Center for Young Scholars and has since focused her interdisciplinary studies in the arts, humanities, and social sciences into a passion for community-based theater and the intersections between public policy and the performing arts.

Her past research includes the paper “Performing Beyond Utopia,” which explored how residents of Lima, Peru, in the 1970s used community-based theater to resist and transcend dictatorial state agendas. Outside of performance studies, Sophia’s research has been featured in an open glossary of law, society, and justice terms, and in 2019, she earned the UW Library Research Award for Undergraduates for her paper investigating barriers to Latin American youths’ access to educational support services.

Sophia is currently the President of the Early Entrance Drama Society (EDS), a student-run drama club at UW. In almost three years of involvement in EDS, she has co-facilitated the translation of a 2020 production into a virtual format, performed in and directed several productions, and hosted drama-related events designed to build community and provide performance opportunities for students interested in arts and arts leadership. In addition to her work with EDS, Sophia has acquired significant experience with local nonprofit and community-directed theater, as a directing intern at Stone Soup Theater, a development assistant at ArtsWest, and currently as a volunteer at the Seattle Rep.

She plans to continue studying the potential for community-based theater to bring about material and political change through graduate research in a PhD or MFA program that combines practical approaches and critical scholarly research methods in the study of theater.

Sophia’s near and long-term goals: In the near term, Sophia plans to undertake a critical performance ethnography research project through Seattle Rep’s Public Works program, studying the potential for community-based practices to use language to produce a sense of utopian possibility that transforms the way theater is made at the structural level. She plans to present the results of this research at the Undergraduate Research Symposium in spring 2022. In the long term, she hopes to continue this research through a PhD in Performance Studies or an MFA in Theater Management and Producing, with the ultimate goal of using community-based theater as a catalyst for political and social change.

Sophia’s tips for future Beinecke Scholarship campus applicants:
Use your essay to show that you have a clear and specific plan for what you hope to study in graduate school while at the same time keeping in mind that your plans can, and probably will, change. When trying to articulate your hopes and plans for your academic future in less than one thousand words it helps to go through multiple drafts. One strategy is to completely retype your essay in a new document each time you go to revise it. This makes it easier to make bigger organizational changes.

Nancy Mendoza-Ruiz, Nominee

Nancy is a junior majoring in American Ethnic Studies and minoring in Diversity and Luso-Brazilian Studies. One of her passions is raising awareness about the Indigenous diaspora of Indigenous communities from Latin America that exist within the U.S. Throughout Latin America racism against Indigenous peoples is very common, that continues to be a problem in the U.S. Latinx communities. Many Indigenous people who migrate from different parts of the Americas are still subjected to anti-indigenous violence by the Latinx community in the U.S. She brings awareness to these identities and their experience with anti-indigenous racism that is faced by many Indigenous people. Indigenous people from all over Latin America are always erased under the Latinx ethnicity, this erasure is even more visible in Indigenous diaspora communities in the U.S. Her academic interests include language and cultural revitalization in Mixtec diasporas in the U.S. and how anti-indigeneity in the Latinx community impacts how 1st and 2nd generation Indigenous peoples in the U.S. diaspora. She plans to pursue a Ph.D. program in Ethnic or Indigenous Studies.

Nancy’s tips for future Beinecke Scholarship campus applicants:
It’s important to being as soon as possible! If you know the deadline then begin now and do not leave it for last minute. You will need time to make revisions and edits on your draft. Also, if you know what you’re passionate about and it ties into what you want to do for graduate school, talk about it in your essay! It shows your interest and commitment to your learning and what you want to study in the future. It really makes you stand out if you already feel passionate and know what you want to study.

Jesse Loi, Nominee

Junior, Philosophy and Mathematics majors

Brian Dang, Nominee

Junior, English and Drama major

Nala Williams, Nominee

Junior, Anthropology, Near Eastern Studies major

Michael Monicatti, Nominee

Junior, Drama Performances and Communications major

Elizabeth Castro, Nominee

Junior, International Studies major, Education, Learning & Society minor

Savannah Ledgerwood, Nominee

Junior, Psychology major, Diversity minor

Anh Huynh, Nominee

Psychology and Communication (Journalism) major

Audrey Brown, Nominee

Junior, Sociology and Comparative History of Ideas (CHID) major

Byron Gray, Scholar

Political Science, Law Societies & Justice, Asian Studies (South Asia) major, South Asian Languages & Literature (Hindi) minor

Garrett Strain, Nominee

International Studies and Economics major

Luke Caldwell, Scholar

Comparative History of Ideas and Philosophy major, Human Rights minor

Laura Hinton, Nominee

Anthropology major

Vi Nhan, Nominee

International Studies and Political Science major

Meily Mendez, Nominee

Music and Applied Music (Piano) major

Gloria Kim, Nominee

Sociology major

Kristi Govella, Scholar

Political Science and Japanese major

Melinda Holm, Nominee

Art History major

Vincent Gonzalez, Nominee

Comparative History of Ideas and International Studies major

Miguel A. Bocanegra, Scholar

Political Science major

Erin K. Schneider, Scholar

Comparative History of Ideas major

Jeffrey E. Lehman, Scholar

Biological Sciences major

Alyssa Kuraishi, Scholar to Taiwan

I am a political science major at the UW focused on international security and East Asia. I applied for this scholarship for my year long Flagship Capstone study abroad in Taiwan. I’m studying abroad in order to further my Mandarin, which will facilitate my future career in international relations analysis. After my study abroad, I plan to attend grad school for international relations. In the future, I hope to work as an international relations analyst specializing in East Asia.

Alyssa’s Tip: Remember the emphasis on national security for this scholarship!

Eva Jacroux, Scholar

I am completing my third year at the University of Washington majoring in Political Science and minoring in Data Science. I am currently an intern at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory where I work on policy-driven projects in U.S national security and develop my data science skills. During my time in Morocco, I hope to focus my area studies on the impact of U.S national security interests abroad and its intersection with neocolonialism in the MENA region. National security interests present pressing concerns for sovereignty overseas. My work at PNNL has exposed me to the complexity of national security policy in the United States and the many facets that analysts at PNNL research to inform it. My personal goal is to question and analyze the impacts of decisions made in the U.S on other countries. I am passionate about the importance of history, and specifically colonial history, informing the interactions between states today. In Morocco, a history of French colonialism created tensions in the Western Sahara, the same conflicts that are now exacerbated by the December peace deal between Israel and Morocco which was facilitated by the U.S. As multiple powers increase their presence on the African continent, understanding how a legacy of colonialism impacts current foreign policy relationships will be vital. With my background in French, I hope to expand my language skills and spend my time in Morocco learning Arabic. Through the lens of language study, I will be able to further reflect on the connections between colonial history, neocolonialism, and current U.S policymaking.

Eva’s Tip: I recommend planning in depth exactly what it would look like if you were to get the scholarship as you write the application. There are many moving parts to going overseas for an extended period which involves coordinating between study abroad, your department on campus, and your destination programs. I applied with a plan for summer of 2021 knowing that most likely it would be pushed back to spring of 2022. I found my destination programs early so that I was able to talk to the study abroad office and my department to see how this would impact my schedule for senior year, how to fulfil my major requirements, and whether independent learning credits would be a smart option before I submitted the application. Knowing this, I took my minor capstone a year early in order to free up my spring quarter just in case, and am now incredibly grateful that my advisors were able to help me create a long term plan to finish my undergraduate career on time.

Estey Chen, Scholar

I am a second-year interdisciplinary honors student majoring in political science and history, but my interest in both subjects and desire to ameliorate social inequalities began long before beginning college.
Reading stories of bravery in the face of immense hardship offered glimpses into experiences different from my own, instilling in me the importance of questioning the status quo and a commitment to uplifting marginalized communities. Meanwhile, volunteering for GOTV in 2016, two years before I myself could vote, gave me a sense of purpose and an outlet for my frustrations with Asian American and youth apathy. Though I was often met with blank stares, unanswered doorbells, and disconnected phone lines, the work energized me to aspire to craft equitable policy that protects civil rights and promotes good governance.
Moreover, courses and an internship with Congresswoman Jayapal’s office challenged me to use a global lens to explore unfamiliar areas of study and conceptualize effective structural reform. I learned that the most pressing issues affecting the U.S. are neither unique to our modern era or contained within our borders. While taking a comparative cold war history class, for example, I was struck by my unfamiliarity with Southeast Asia, Indonesia in particular. I grew up speaking Cantonese, had traveled around China numerous times, and had both researched and taken courses relating to East Asia; the fact that Indonesia is the third largest democracy in the world, played a significant role in cold war politics, and emerged relatively recently from a military dictatorship was news to me. This instilled in me the value of understanding cross-cultural histories of oppression to form collaborative policy solutions and motivated me to apply for the Boren.
Ultimately, I hope to combine my interdisciplinary knowledge of political systems and history, lessons learned while immersed in the culture of Malang, and language skills for a long career of affecting positive change at the federal level. Through a position at USAID or the DOJ, I envision myself developing culturally competent democratic reforms or working within the legal system to increase government accountability for groups traditionally excluded from political processes.

Estey’s tip: Take full advantage of the early UW application deadline and help offered by Office of Merit Scholarship staff. Not counting minor edits, I estimate that I reworked both essays a total of at least 6 times! If not for the early deadline, I would have underestimated the amount of revisions required and been left with worse essays. Also, don’t be intimidated by the interview; they panel is there to help and can share insights from the perspective of former application review committee members. Moreover, verbally articulating to the panel of interviewers why I believed I was qualified for and wanted to participate in the Boren Scholarship gave me greater clarity of my own goals. I used their live feedback, in addition to feedback from staff at the Office of Merit Scholarships, to sharpen my essays. Even if you don’t have time for an in-person essay review session, you can email drafts of your essays to receive feedback remotely.

Ryan Lowry, Scholar

I am currently a student at the University of Washington and cadet in the Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps. I am studying Mathematics and Atmospheric Sciences. I grew up in a military family and experienced most of my childhood overseas. A lot of my experience overseas has really molded how I look at the world and how different cultures interact with each other. When I started at UW, I wanted to learn Korean as the language’s writing system seemed the most accessible. I took a full year of it Freshman year and admittedly struggled for most of it. I do not think I had a good enough understanding of why culture and language are important, so I lacked motivation. It was only after my sophomore year that I really developed an understanding and appreciation for culture and language. I was able to explore a lot of opportunities and develop a community, such as my Taiko drumming group. I have been a part of UW Taiko Kai since my Sophomore year and it has really helped me understand the value of cultural awareness and expression. A lot of my experiences at UW have made me eager to study abroad and be a part of a larger opportunity to share in cultures. Receiving the Boren Award is an amazing opportunity that I hope I can use to further learn about the Korean culture. Once I graduate from UW, I will be entering the military as an officer and I will hopefully be utilizing my acquired language skills in my duty roles. Whether in a military or civilian capacity, I hope that I can get opportunities in the future to travel overseas and perform duties that spread goodwill and cultural awareness.

Ryan’s tip: Start the application process early. There’s going to be a lot of drafting and editing of the essays you’ll need to write. Think about why you want the scholarship and how it will help you further your career goals. Knowing why you’re applying will be a great motivator and will really strengthen your essays.

Conor Cunningham, Scholar to Latvia

Senior, International Studies major

Sarah Slack, Scholar to Brazil (Declined Award)

Junior, Bioengineering major

Oliver lang, Alternate to Morocco

Isabel Bartholomew, Alternate to South Korea

Sophomore, Linguistics major

Sara Leibson, Scholar to South Korea

Senior, Korean and International Studies major

Sarah Rinehart, Scholar to Mozambique

Junior, Public Health major

Ethen Whattam, Scholar to India

Senior, Aquatic & Fishery Sciences major

Zöe Hyra, Alternate

Junior, English major

From left to right: Payton Young, Iman Akhtar, Natalie Riel, and Ednauh Kamlondy

Iman Akhtar, Scholar to India

Senior, International Studies – South Asia major

Ednauh Kamlondym, Scholar to China

Sophomore, International Studies major

Gary Lau, Scholar

Political Science major

Zachary Reshovsky, Scholar (declined)

Junior, International Studies majo

Natalie Riel, Scholar to Senegal

Junior, International Studies major

Payton Young, Scholar

International Studies major

Gennevi Lu, Scholar to Brazil

Junior, Community, Environment & Planning major, Latin American Studies minor

Sara Mac, Alternate

International Studies major

Jessica Franklin, Scholar to China

Junior, Chinese and International Studies – China major

Charlotte Guard, Scholar to Turkey

Junior, International Studies major, Near Eastern Languages and Civilization minor

Benjamin Lee, Scholar to Taiwan

Junior, Chinese and International Studies major

Michael Wright, Alternate (Bothell)

Louisa Johnson, Alternate to Ecuador

Sophomore, International Studies major, Spanish, Latin American Studies minor

Tim Litts, Scholar to Egypt

Senior, Naer Eastern Languages & Civilization and Comparative Religion major

Charmila Ajmera, Scholar to India (declined)

Senior, International Studies – South Asia major

Dean Chahim, Scholar (Declined)

Civil Engineering and Individualized Studies major

Marianne Fisher, Scholar to Jordan

Senior, International Studies and Near Eastern Languages & Civilization major

Sara Hefny, Scholar to Italy (declined)

Senior, Near Eastern Languages & Civilization major

Daniel Minter, Alternate to Argentina

Senior, Neurobiology major

Mei-Ling Schulz, Alternate

Linguistics major, Japanese minor

Daetan Huck, Scholar

Near Eastern Languages and Civilization major

Anna Noble, Alternate

Communications and Russian major

Monica Robinson, Alternate

Asian Studies major

Robin Kallsen, Alternate

International Studies major

Ryo Kato, Scholar

International Studies major

Cameron Sparr, Alternate

Near Eastern Languages and Civilization major

Jacob Barr, Scholar

Eastern Europe & Russia Area Studies and Germanic Language & Literature major, Slavic Language & Literature minor

Calla Hummel, Scholar

International Studies major

Stephanie Kim, Scholar

International Studies major