Maddison (Maddi) Schink ’23 (she/her) has received the competitive Gilman Award Scholarship for a study abroad program with the School for International Training Argentina: People, Environment, and Climate Change in Patagonia and Antarctica.

The Spring Semester program runs Feb. 22-June 6, and Schink will be based in Ushuaia, Argentina, the southern-most city in the world, where she will examine how climate change affects the region’s marine biodiversity.

Schink, an Environmental Studies major, says that this program will not only help her better understand the impacts of climate change on a global scale but will also provide the opportunity to expand her language skills since all the program’s courses are taught in Spanish.

A Boettcher Scholar from Fort Collins, Colorado, Schink plans to spend the Fall Semester with Colorado College’s Teaching and Research in Environmental Education program, before heading to Argentina. The TREE program is a 16-week, residential semester program that mirrors the traditional study abroad experience. Undergraduate students live and learn in community at the Catamount Center outside Woodland Park, Colorado.

More than 1,500 U.S. undergraduate students were selected to receive Gilman scholarship awards in this recent cycle, and will study or intern in 96 countries through the end of 2022. The recipients represent 467 U.S. colleges and all 50 U.S. states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.

The Gilman Program is sponsored by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, whose mission is to build relations between the people of the United States and other countries through academic, cultural, sports, professional and private exchanges, as well as public-private partnerships and mentoring programs.