2019 Study Abroad Fellowship Awardees

Royze Banados (Biomedical Sciences, BS 2021)

Royze was born and raised on Saipan, a 14-mile pacific island. Growing up she was constantly surrounded by the beauty of nature and a very supportive community, which built her passion for sustainability and health. She is extremely excited to be participating in the CFHI: Global Health Experiential Learning program in Uganda, Africa in the early fall of 2019. Royze chose the program to learn more about sustainable agriculture practices and cultural differences to understand their implications for human health.

Ranie Betzina (Business Administration and Sustainability, BA 2021)

Ranie will be participating in the From Sea to Shining Sea: Exploration of Corporate Social Responsibility Initiatives at the Ports of Washington and the Netherlands program in Early Fall 2019.  Corporate Social Responsibility is the way of the future, and it will be exciting to learn from the most sustainable port on the planet while in the picturesque setting of the Netherlands and its beautiful canals.  Ranie is passionate about the person to planet relationship and how corporations can improve current conditions. She is thrilled to tie together the aspects of CSR to sustainability while learning how those initiatives are marketed to the public for buy in. This program truly brings together everything she has been learning about inside of the classroom into a real world setting that will set her on the path to discovering her future career. 

Linh Dao (Biomedical Sciences, BS 2020)

Being a first-generation college student of a Vietnamese immigrant family has motivated Linh to explore all the aspects of college. Besides the healthcare field that she is pursuing academically, Linh is interested in Eastern culture so she is very excited to participate in the CFHI: Public Health and Community Medicine study abroad program in Delhi, India program.

Amari Davis (Criminal Justice, BA 2020)

Amari is a 22-year old UW Tacoma transfer student. She will be studying abroad on the Compartiative Criminal Justice Systems in the Netherlands program. She will explore the Dutch justice system and analyze crime reduction techniques, among other things, and be exposed to methods of interaction with high-risk, vulnerable, and minority groups. Amari is very excited for this experience as she believes it will provide wonderful insight into alternative forms of addressing criminal behavior, which are not employed in the U.S. justice system. Her long term career goal is to be a juvenile corrections counselor, and she hopes to apply some of the knowledge acquired during this study abroad experience during her career. 

Miekel Ellefson-Pillato (Social Welfare, BA 2020)

Jazmin Griffin (Social Welfare, BA 2020)

Jazmin will be participating in the Compartiative Criminal Justice Systems in the Netherlands program. This will be her first study abroad, as well as her first trip outside of North America. She chose the program in the Netherlands because it fits well with her Social Work major. Jazmin believes that a lot can be learned from nations with criminal justice systems that are more progressive than that of the U.S., and she looks forward to gaining knowledge that could steer her in the direction of advocacy work. She's also excited for sight-seeing and eating Dutch pastries with every meal. 

Kirsten Hargett (Biomedical Sciences and Psychology, BA 2021)

Kirsten will be going to Bolivia for the CFHI: Doing More with Less: Healthcare in Remote Southern Bolivia program. This will be her first time leaving the country ever. During her time abroad, Kirsten hopes to get a glimpse of her future in healthcare and working in a clinical setting. She also hopes to practice her Spanish language skills. In the future, she wants to become a pediatric surgeon with a specialty in oncology.

Kevin Liu (Politics, Philosophy, and Economics, BA 2022)

Kevin is a first-year student at the University of Washington Tacoma and will be participating in the China: Past and Present program in the Summer A term of 2019. In pursuing a career in international relations, he hopes to gain an understanding of various cultures to become involved in an international setting. Kevin hopes to immerse himself in Chinese culture and believes that every person should have the opportunity to travel overseas in their lifetime. 

Kylie Marx (Spanish Language and Culture, BA 2020)

Kylie is a first generation college student and is ecstatic to have the opportunity to study abroad on the Intensive Spanish in Alicante, Spain program so she can utilize her Spanish speaking skills! She's been studying Spanish since her sophomore year of high school, and this will be her first time studying abroad and getting to use Spanish outside of the classroom. She's hoping to gain more confidence in her Spanish speaking skills so she can become more involved in and help our Spanish speaking community here in Tacoma. She looks forward to meeting new people, learning more about the culture, and taking in all of the beautiful scenery in Spain! 

Aimee Morago (Social Welfare, BA 2020)

Joanne Nguyen (Biomedical Sciences, BA 2020)

Joanne is a junior at University of Washington Tacoma. She has been living in Seattle ever since she was born and is the oldest of four in her family. Joanne is participating in the CFHI: Public Health and Community Medicine in Delhi, India early fall program. The last time Joanne visited Asia, where her parents' home country is located, was when she was five-year-old. She looks forward to what she will see and experience during program, as well as the outcome. 

David "Chris" Ozier (Spanish Languages and Cultures and Applied Computing, BA 2020)

Chris started taking German language classes when he worked as a Dining and Conference Services employee at the University of Puget Sound. When he transferred here from Tacoma Community College he chose to take Spanish classes, which seemed like a more useful choice within the community he lives in. He has the opportunity to partake in the Intensive Spanish Language and Cultures in Alicante, Spain program, which is a language immersion program at the Centro Superior de Idiomas at the Universidad de Alicante. Chris is excited to expierence the festival of San Juan, in which the people of Alicante have parades, make paper-mache statues, blow up fireworks, and celebrate the beginning of summer with bonfires on the last day of the festival. 

Danielle Ross (Social Welfare, BA 2020)

Danielle is a first generation student, military spouse, and a mother of two that is going on the Netherlands: Comparative Criminal Justice Systems program. She enjoys learning about other cultures and traveling around the United States. As a military wife she has been lucky enough to see most of the U.S. and learn about how our country is different in each part of the United States. She has a passion for social work and learning about people. 

Malik Slater (Psychology, BA 2019)

Malik is a graduating senior with a love for the field of psychology. He will be participating in the China: Past and Present program in summer A term of 2019. Malik's goal is to work as a employee retention consultant so he can ensure that working can be enjoyable for employees, rather than a chore. He plans to own his own consulting firm and start in private practice later in life. 

Tzirintzy Valdivia (Business Adminstration, BA 2020)

This coming fall, Tzirintzy will be participating in the From Sea to Shining Sea: Exploration of Corporate Social Responsibility Initiatives at the Ports of Washington and the Netherlands study abroad program. As a Business Administration major, this program is a perfect fit. Tzirintzy chose to participate because she wants to know more about how the ports in different parts of the world work, what initiatives they implement for better performance, and find more about other cultures and education. 

Adrianna Zan (Biomedical Sciences, BA 2020)

Cobi Adams (Marketing, BA 2022)

Chadene Djekkoun (Communications, BA 2020)

Matt Haase (MBA 2019)

Alicia Kemp (Law and Policy & Human Rights, BA 2019)

Annalycia Matthews (Ethnic, Gender, and Labor Studies, BA 2019)