Student Earns Gilman Scholarship

Student Earns Gilman Scholarship

By Dan Silvia, Communications Manager

Cheryl Huckabee-Washington will be packing her bags for Barcelona soon and Bellevue University helped make the trip possible. Huckabee-Washington was awarded a Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship this spring. She is the first Bellevue University student to receive the award.

The Gilman International Scholarship Program offers grants for U.S. citizen undergraduate students of limited financial means to pursue academic studies or credit-bearing, career-oriented internships abroad. Such international exchange is intended to better prepare U.S. students to assume significant roles in an increasingly global economy and interdependent world. A married, mother of two, and a small e-commerce business owner, Huckabee-Washington is on online student from eastern Pennsylvania. She is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in Supply Chain and Logistics Management. The application process for the scholarship was quite an undertaking, she said.

“The application process took more than 12 hours during the course of a few weeks to complete,” she said. “It was approached like a project which was broken down into parts and edited for a cohesive final draft. However, it was thought provoking, succinct and a most collaborative process.”

As a non-traditional student, Huckabee-Washington didn’t fit into the same mold as most of the scholarship applicants.

“I’m pioneering some unchartered waters here. I think this opportunity is very overlooked by non-traditional students like me,” she said.

Huckabee-Washington praised the efforts of Emily Krueger, the University’s Study Abroad Representative, Dr. Ed Haynes, the director of the Supply Chain and Logistics Management program, her Academic Advisor Suzy Christiansen, and Doug Henely, the Assistant Director of Financial Aid, for assisting with the process.

“It took the Bellevue University village to bring the application process together,” she said. “I was kept in the loop as they met with each other while collaborating and formulating this mass into a cohesive final application. I could not have been more supported or hope for a better team.”

The collaborative process was a highlight for Krueger as well. “As soon as I told Cheryl about the Gilman Scholarship, she was determined to win,” Krueger said. “That final week before she submitted everything, I was with our program that took place in the UK this past spring. Each night in my hotel room I’d have a new edit from Cheryl, and I’d look it over with my suggestions and send it back, until we both felt satisfied that her application essays were the best they could be and that her personality shone through. It was a significant investment of time on her part- but it certainly paid off! I’m so excited for her to head to Spain this fall.”

Huckabee-Washington’s internship will be arranged through BarcelonaSAE and begin on October 5, 2015. BarcelonaSAE is one of several international internship providers that partners with the Study Abroad Office.

“I’m looking forward to great experiences participating in the first of what I hope will be many opportunities to conduct business with the European Union countries,” Huckabee-Washington said.

Huckabee-Washington had already earned an associate’s degree before enrolling at Bellevue University.“I honestly don’t know how I happened to stumble across Bellevue. I looked at other colleges, but they did not meet my requirements in terms of transfer credits, cost, and the specific degree I was looking for, she said. “I guess it could have been divine intervention because I set a specific intention of what I wanted, and here we are.”

Huckabee-Washington said her experience at the University overall has been consistent with her experience pursuing the Gilman scholarship.

“The true diamonds at Bellevue University are the faculty and staff, be it the class experience or the administrative assistance to the students,” she said. “People make the product great and people need to be affirmed for the great jobs they do. I’m sure President Hawkins deserves to be acknowledged for cultivating the wonderful programs and staff that made this possible for me.”