Happy News from Kristin!

I was awarded a $4, 500 Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship for this semester!! I'm so incredibly grateful. I'd applied for the scholarship in October. At the beginning of December, I was informed that I had been deemed an "alternate"...basically, the program acknowledged that I deserve the money, but wasn't necessarily going to give it to me. I was pretty disappointed, because I felt that my two essays were awesome and that the financial need was clearly present, but they said they'd let me know by December 18th if a recipient had turned down free money and it was coming to me, instead. I held out hope, but when the 18th came and went, I assumed hope was lost. 

THEN, on December 30th, I got an email from the Gilman Program, informing me that I'd received a scholarship! And since the maximum amount is $5,000, my award is very generous. I'm proud of myself, and so grateful to the Gilman Program for awarding me this money, because it will make my life in Costa Rica much better, and less stressful. :)