CCEL announces recipient of 2013 Second Bridge Scholarship

The UAA Center for Community Engagement and Learning (CCEL) is pleased to announce Sarah McHenry is the recipient of the 2013 Second Bridge Scholarship Award. Her faculty sponsor is Zeynep Kilic, Department of Sociology.

Sarah McHenry is an undergraduate majoring in sociology. Her earlier completion of an undergraduate degree in cultural anthropology sparked her interest in international travel and cultural immersion, and took her to Australia, Europe, Indonesia and Thailand. Sarah's professional background in human services taught her about the importance of community. Her current studies focus on community building, with a particular interest in international sustainable development through organic farming. The Second Bridge Scholarship will allow her to travel to Kathmandu, Nepal, to volunteer on a project through World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms (WWOOF) Nepal with the primary goal of experiencing the challenges and triumphs of rural sustainable development, and to "ferret out the similarities between rural indigenous populations of Nepal and the rural indigenous populations of Alaska." Sarah believes that "connecting people ecologically to where they live and with the products of their labor, in the form of food, inherently embodies ideals of integration in a way that fosters a sense of community."

The Second Bridge Scholarship Award provides $1,000 to a student who has crossed a "first bridge" and now seeks to expand his or her understanding of cultures or local or global issues and push the boundaries of traditional education. CCEL matches the grant for an additional $1,000.

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