by Niki Acton '16

Knox College student Sarah Kobernat '16 was selected as a recipient of the prestigious Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship for students planning to study abroad.

A junior from Rockford, Illinois, Kobernat is a double major in biochemistry and French. She will participate in Lawrence University's Francophone seminar in Dakar, Senegal, where she will study French.

Kobernat's travel will be funded by a $5000 grant from the Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship fund. The scholarship program's goal is to increase the diversity of students who study abroad and the countries and regions where they go.

Robin Ragan, director of the Eleanor Stellyes Center for Global Studies, reports that the number of Gilman scholarships Knox receives is steadily increasing. This year, five Knox students received Gilman awards, which is among the highest in the Associated College of the Midwest (ACM).

"I'm really excited to get to study French in a francophone country other than France," says Kobernat. "I hope to gain a better understanding of a culture very different from my own."

Kobernat is currently auditing a francophone African Literature class, where she is learning about the history and culture of francophone African countries like Senegal. She looks forward to applying everything she has learned at Knox in her travel during spring term 2015.

"I know it will be a learning process," she says, "and I am really excited to jump in."