Nancy Pierce Endowed Award for International Studies

My name is Kate Songer, I’m a junior with a Conservation Biology major, and French minor from Shelburne, Vermont. Because of the donations from the France-Merrick Pinkard Fund for International Study from Ms. Jena B. Pinkard, Mr. and Mrs. Peter M. Pinkard, and Ms. Caitlin M. Pinkard, I was able to travel to a remote island in New Zealand to study an endemic species of fish during the fall 2017 semester.

Last semester I studied abroad in Cairns, Australia. Thanks to the enormous generosity of several St. Lawrence donors, I was also able to travel to New Zealand during my mid-semester break through a travel enrichment grant. My intended plan for New Zealand was to hike the Milford Track Walk for four days and also do other hikes in the area. The Milford Track walk ended up being far more expensive than my previous research had led me to believe and therefore I did not end up undertaking the Milford track walk. Instead I completed several related outdoor activities in New Zealand.

I studied abroad in Cortona, Italy in the Spring of 2018.  I am a statistics and fine studio arts major.  During my semester, I was involved in an intensive art program where I traveled around different cities in Italy including Florence, Rome, Pisa, Siena, and many more studying the art and history of these areas.  I was able to fully immerse myself in not only my own work, but also works that have been very influential throughout history.  Through the grant I was able to travel to both Amsterdam and Paris and continue my education of art and focus on sexuality and color in two specific ci