Grand Valley student receives prestigious Boren award

Leah Beaulac, a biology major from Owosso and member of the Frederik Meijer Honors College, has been awarded a prestigious Boren Scholarship to study Arabic in Jordan during the 2015-16 academic year.

Beaulac will study at the Qasid Institute in Amman, Jordan. The award is highly competitive. This year more than 750 applications were received and only 171 were awarded. 

David L. Boren Scholarships and Fellowships are sponsored by the National Security Education Program (NSEP), a major federal initiative designed to build a broader and more qualified pool of U.S. citizens with foreign language and international skills. Boren Awards provide U.S. undergraduate and graduate students with resources and encouragement to acquire language skills and experience in countries critical to the future security and stability of the nation. In exchange for funding, Boren award recipients agree to work in the federal government for a period of at least one year. 

Boren Scholars and Fellows will live in 40 countries throughout Africa, Asia, Central and Eastern Europe, Eurasia, Latin America and the Middle East. They will study 37 different languages. The most popular languages include Arabic, Mandarin, Russian, Portuguese and Swahili. 

Since 1994, more than 5,400 students have received Boren Awards. Boren Scholars and Fellows represent a vital pool of highly motivated individuals who wish to work in the federal national security arena, and program alumni are contributing to the critical missions of agencies throughout the federal government. 

Undergraduate and graduate students interested in applying for the Boren Awards should contact The Frederik Meijer Office of Fellowships at [email protected] or visit 230 Mary Idema Pew Library on the Allendale Campus. Complete award details are available at www.borenawards.org.