The U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and JAY Z’s Shawn Carter Foundation have announced a partnership to support study abroad scholarships for U.S. undergraduate students with financial need. 

Four inaugural Shawn Carter Foundation-Gilman International Scholarships have been awarded for the spring 2013 semester. The four scholarship winners for this year are:

• Brittany Hardy, a first-generation college student from Gary, Indiana, and religion major at Princeton University, will study abroad for a semester in Athens, Greece.

• Natalie Holman, who is from Chicago studying anthropology, public health, and Spanish at Northwestern University, will study and live with a host family in Barcelona, Spain.

• Laquisha Springer, a first-generation college student from Hartford studying behavioral neuroscience at Connecticut College, will study psychology in Copenhagen, Denmark.

• Quenton White, from Detroit and attending Wayne State University with the goal of going on to law school, will study at the University of Salford in Manchester, United Kingdom.

The collaboration between the Shawn Carter Foundation and the Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship Program supports the State Department’s goal of expanding opportunities for students with diverse backgrounds to study abroad and builds on the foundation’s efforts to broaden the horizons of its scholars. The four Shawn Carter Foundation-Gilman International Scholarships will be implemented by IIE. 

Read the press release for more information.