Sol Feinstone International Study Prize

During the Fall 2021 semester, I had the life-changing opportunity to study off campus in the heart of New York City. The off-campus opportunities offered at St. Lawrence University was one of the central reasons I decided to make this place my new home, and a chance to live in the city for four months brought this dream to fruition. Over the next couple of months, I balanced an internship at the office of U.S.

I am an English literature and Francophone studies double major. I studied abroad in Toulouse, France during the fall of 2021, and at the same time, I conducted research on Anne of Brittany. In my research, I sought to further study her varied representations during and after her life in connection to her identity as a woman. Anne was queen of France twice in her life and duchess of Brittany. Her representation is contested largely due to her identity as a woman during the Middle Ages.

Southeastern Europe is a mix of ethnicities, religions and traditions existing on the foundation of different cultural practices and politics.  The centuries of Ottoman rule on the Balkan peninsula had a profound effect on the culture and populations of the region. As a person born and raised in the Balkans, I have been fascinated by the nuances in the culture -what makes us different and what makes us similar, since my earliest childhood. My journey focused mostly on exploring cultures through music, food, fashion, tradition, history and lifestyles.

My name is E.J. Curtis and I am a senior neuroscience major, chemistry minor from Canton, New York.  For the past two and a half years I have worked with Dr. Samantha Glazier on the interactions of a class of chemotherapy agents with DNA.

During my four weeks in Burma, I was working on two research projects. The first was my Tanner Fellowship project where I looked into how effective the international NGO World Vision—Myanmar was in their projects, how the organization is perceived by the Burmese people, and how the organization has developed since it started in the early 1990’s. My second project was researching street art for my Senior Year Experience in Global Studies.

Southeastern Europe is a mix of ethnicities, religions and traditions existing on the foundation of different cultural practices and politics.  The centuries of Ottoman rule on the Balkan peninsula had a profound effect on the culture and populations of the region. As a person born and raised in the Balkans, I have been fascinated by the nuances in the culture -what makes us different and what makes us similar, since my earliest childhood. My journey focused mostly on exploring cultures through music, food, fashion, tradition, history and lifestyles.

When I was a child, every night before bed time my mother would always tell me stories about ancient Rome and the Roman civilization. I loved to learn about Gods, gladiators and Emperors. I remember my favorite story was about the founding of Rome, when Romulus and Remo were raised by a wolf and then created the greatest city in Ancient History. When I got accepted in the Vienna Program of the Spring 2017, I decided that it was time to take advantage of the geography of my program and to extend my knowledge about the Romans.

As a 4-Year Army ROTC Scholarship Recipient, a Community Assistant, and an intern at the Language Resource Center, the thought of studying abroad seemed almost impossible three years ago. Aside from the extra-curricular and academic obstacles, studying abroad as a first-generation immigrant from Los Teques, Venezuela comes with its own set of challenges. However, during the Fall of 2017, I had the wonderful opportunity to Study Abroad in Thailand and spend my semester in the beautiful city of Chiang Mai.

I have no memory of a time when art has not had a significant presence in my life. After taking both studio and art history courses here at St. Lawrence University, my level of appreciation for the arts has skyrocketed so you can only imagine my excitement when I discovered the opportunity to research one of my artistic inspirations, Caravaggio. Caravaggio was an artist who stuck out, he was a misfit, and he was a criminal.

My name is Daylan Salmeron Gomez, I am an international student from a small town called San Vicente in the cantón of Turrialba in Costa Rica. I am a Junior majoring in International Economics- Multilanguage (Arabic-Chinese) combined major and minor in Francophone Studies. In the Fall of 2018, I participated in the CIEE Accelerated Chinese Program in Shanghai, China.

American doctors are miserable. With crazy hours, no pay, and thousands of dollars in debt, 54% of physicians rate their morale as somewhat or very negative and only 37% describe their feelings about the future of the medical profession as positive.  In 2016 The Physicians Foundation put together the 2016 Survey of America’s Physicians Practice Patterns & Perspectives. They concluded that the US has a problem with overloading physicians with unnecessary paperwork, regulations, and pre-authorization requirements for procedures patients need.

During my semester abroad in London, I was fortunate enough to travel to other locations in England to explore the links they have to Jane Austen. I am planning on doing an independent project for my English minor exploring why Jane Austen’s novels have been both successful as current literature and as a merchandising commodity.

The opportunities offered by St. Lawrence University are unparalleled, especially for students looking to pursue their own unique educational interests or independent projects.  During the summer of 2018, I travelled overseas to Slovakia to complete an ethnographic research project about the fall of Communism and its devastating effects. A portion of this project dealt with the shifts in educational institutions as a result of these political changes.

My name is Daylan Salmeron Gomez, I am an international student from a small town called San Vicente in the cantón of Turrialba in Costa Rica. I am a Junior majoring in International Economics- Multilanguage (Arabic-Chinese) combined major and a minor in Francophone Studies.

My name is Hunter Rodrick and I am from Chappaqua, NY. I am a Business and Economics major and government minor in the class of 2021. Through the generosity of Ms. Francine Stone, I received funding for a travel enrichment grant. My project is entitled: Gun Culture in New Zealand following the Christchurch Mosque Shootings. I travelled in Dunedin and to Christchurch, Wellington, Auckland. I am thankful to have had the opportunity to pray in solidarity at the Al Noor Mosque in Christchurch.

I am a Sociology and Francophone studies double-major who got to study in Bordeaux last semester. I was able to go to Barcelona and Marseille to study Arab influences in Mediterranean cultures thanks to the generosity of the Sol Feinstone International Study Prize.  My original focus on Arab influences expanded to include the issues of misrepresentation of African immigrants throughout the semester, due to the influence of the France program’s trip to Sénégal and Dr. Éloïse Brezault’s course which focused on colonization and mythological images.

I began researching midwifery in my Women’s Health and Aging Class that I enrolled in for my public health minor. The class was taught by Leah Rohlfsen who became my advisor and my mentor for this research. I learned in this class that birthplace options have been a topic of discussion among women and healthcare professionals. I realized I had an amazing opportunity while studying abroad to learn about the birthing model in New Zealand.