Snow Hill’s Joaquín Villagran-Hernandez awarded Gilman Scholarship

Washington and Lee University sophomore Joaquín Villagran-Hernandez has been awarded a Gilman Scholarship to study Latin American migration in Mexico.

Villagran-Hernandez is a global politics and sociology double major and education policy minor from Snow Hill. He will participate in the SIT Mexico: Migration, Borders and Transnational Communities program in Oaxaca, Mexico, during the upcoming fall term. He will study the social, political and economic aspects of migration in Mexico and Central America, specifically looking at how policy and the criminalization of migration affects communities in the U.S. and Mexico.

“Being awarded the Gilman Scholarship is a privilege and testament to the opportunities that are made available to Washington and Lee students,” Villagran-Hernandez said. “This scholarship speaks to the work and journey I have taken since arriving on campus and is a continuation of that journey. The studying abroad experience will expand my knowledge outside of the classroom setting while better understanding what it means to be a global citizen.”

The Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship Program seeks to diversify the kinds of students who study or intern abroad and the countries and regions they visit by offering up to $5,000 to U.S. undergraduate students who are Pell Grant recipients.

The scholarship is sponsored by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and the Institute of International Education administers the program.