Dear Contributors and Program Participants,
The Chris Borton Memorial Scholarship Fund is now in its twenty-third year and with the addition of the current five recipients, 74 UC San Diego and UC Davis students have benefited from your generous contributions. They have pursued international study at universities in Austria, China, Costa Rica, Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt, England, France, Germany, Ghana, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, the Netherlands, Scotland, Senegal, Spain, South Korea, and Sweden. For up to date details see the Fund website at https://www.bortonscholarship.org. The site has a new look this year and has moved to its own domain.
In April 2019 the Senator Paul Simon Study Abroad Act (S. 1198) was introduced in the U.S Senate. The bill is named after the late senator from Illinois who was a noted advocate for the importance of international education to both economic growth and national security. The Paul Simon Act would create a competitive grant program in the Department of Education that would enable colleges and universities to expand study abroad opportunities for their students. The stated objectives of the program are: 1. increase the number of American students who study abroad annually for academic credit to more than one million within ten years; 2. increase participation of underrepresented groups; 3. increase the proportion of study abroad taking place in developing countries and other destinations that have historically hosted relatively few students from the United States. While we are encouraged by the potential for a national program promoting greater access to study abroad opportunities, recent aggregate statistics indicate that fewer than 2% (approximately 350,000) of all students enrolled in college study abroad. The Chris Borton Memorial Scholarship Fund, and other programs like it, play an important role in empowering education abroad opportunities and increasing cultural awareness in the next generation of global citizens.
Current Scholarship Recipients:
Tammy Mok, a UCSD Computer Science major with a Japanese Studies minor, is studying at Tohoku University in Sendai, Japan. During her year abroad, Tammy wants to conduct research and take language and culture classes to set her on the path to fluency in the language. In addition, Tammy hopes "to learn from the stories of those around me, explore a whole new culture, and grow a more global perspective." She notes that the class sizes are much smaller than at UCSD and she is exploring clubs and circles (a more casual version of a club) with an eye towards joining the Aikido club and the Cooking circle. Amongst other keen early observations of cultural differences, she writes that "many people have said to beware of the lack of garbage cans on the street, but I didn't expect there to be almost a complete lack of them."
Minna Luu is a UCD International Relations major studying at Sciences Po in Paris, France. Minna is Vietnamese and grew up surrounded by her native culture in San Jose, CA, which has the highest population of Vietnamese people outside of Saigon. As a junior in high school, Minna was lucky enough to be able to live in Cannes as a foreign exchange student for two weeks. While those two weeks flew by quickly, the kindness from her host family and the amount of knowledge she gained was irreplaceable. She was also briefly able to visit Paris and fell in love with it; so much so that she promised herself that someday she would go back. Aside from school, Minna is a baking enthusiast and has been dubbed a “foodie” by many of her friends who know her passion for cooking and eating. She is also a fan of cinema, museums, and enjoys playing her violin from time to time. By the end of her year abroad, she hopes to come back more confident in her French and to have gained a more nuanced understanding of the French-Vietnamese culture she comes from. She writes of her initial experience abroad: "Surprisingly, even though it's only been two months, I feel quite comfortable in Paris and a little more like a local each day. I was even able to give a person directions in French about which metro line to take."
Devin Doss, a UCSD double major in Japanese and Chinese Studies, is studying at Waseda University in Tokyo, Japan. He studied this summer at Peking University in Beijing, China in the Summer Chinese Language Intensive Program. He describes his time in Beijing as an enriching experience and his language development as rapid. His long term goal in pursuing languages is "to develop the ability to better and truly communicate with a broader variety of people." While in Japan, Devin hopes to join a club to better integrate into the school's social life on campus. Over his lifetime, he has played multiple instruments, sang in different choirs and performed in many venues. He writes: "I plan to explore a new aspect of music I have yet to greatly do much in; dance!" Following his studies abroad, Devin hopes to find an internship back home in San Diego related to his aspirations to work in translation and interpretation. Longer term, he would like to pursue a Master's in International Business so that he can use his language skills in a business context.
Moa Smith is a UCD double major in Political Science and American Studies, studying at Uppsala University in Uppsala, Sweden. Her mother immigrated to the United States from Sweden before her birth and Moa hadn't had the opportunity to meet her family in Sweden prior to studying abroad. During her year abroad, Moa will take almost all of her upper division political science classes and is "looking forward to taking these from a Swedish perspective, given the differences in the Swedish and U.S. political systems." She has finished her first class at Uppsala and got "the highest grade possible on the exam, which was a relief given how different the academic structure is here." She has an international group of friends that goes hiking and likes to fika (a daily Swedish snack/fellowship gathering) together. Thus far, Moa has taken the train to Stockholm, visited her grandparents in Hedemora, and traveled to Örebro. After her undergraduate studies, Moa is considering going to law school to study criminal law.
Kayla Erler is a UCSD Engineering major, studying at Imperial College in London, England. Her focus is Structural Engineering, which fits well with her aptitude for problem solving and her ambitions in design solutions and structural analysis. She is excited to "learn in an environment that has both modern innovations and older historical buildings for inspiration." Kayla believes that her study abroad will contribute to a more well-rounded, versatile engineering background which will be applicable in many countries. She cites the example of learning Eurocode (the main Engineering code in Europe), which will be invaluable for her career and is "an opportunity to see the differences between how things are done in the United Sates as opposed to Europe." In addition to her studies, Kayla has joined the civil engineering society and the horse-riding society. The latter meets once a week for lessons, including jumping and going for rides in the forest of Trent Park In London. Kayla plans to travel to Paris for winter break and to Budapest in the spring.
Updates on recently returned Borton Scholars:
Megumi Kawamura (Japan, 2018-19) is currently a fourth year student at UCSD and plans to finish her studies and graduate in March at the end of winter quarter. She is looking at jobs in Tokyo as well as in the United States. As an International Business major, Megumi hopes to find a job in the field of marketing post-graduation. She writes, "Whether or not my first job out of college is based in Japan, I hope to find myself living there again in the near future." She also continues her Japanese studies on her own outside of school so that she will not lose the skills she gained while abroad and can be prepared for potential interviews in Japanese. Megumi found her experience studying abroad transformative. She writes, "This past year that I spent in Tokyo was truly the best year of my life, and I can confidently say that the decision to spend my third year of college in Japan was the best decision I have ever made."
Yulin Ma (Scotland, 2018-19) has returned to UCSD from Glasgow and is currently taking a research methods class for her human development major. As part of this class, she is learning how to do qualitative research including observing staff interactions at a drop-in center for homeless youths in downtown San Diego. She writes that her time abroad has helped her grow into the person she is supposed to be; that "I feel lucky for all the times that I felt vulnerable and lost too, and for all the people that have guided me and allowed me to experience human compassion during those times: the Uber driver that said to call him if I needed help because he knows what it feels like to start over somewhere new, the old man in France that communicated to my friend and me using Google Translate and later walked us to the station, and the Filipino man who I bonded with because we were both immigrants." Upon her return, she has kept up with many of her international friends from Glasgow. A Chilean friend messaged her about riots in Chile that received little to no international coverage and to say the riots were more violent than what the media portrayed. This experience made Yulin pay more attention to what was going on in Chile because it personally affects someone she knows. She writes, "I really appreciate that my friends from different countries share their insider perspectives with me because it helps me be more well-informed about what's going on in the world."
Isabella Silva (Japan, 2018-19) has returned to UCSD from Japan. During her time in Japan she was able to advance her Japanese and Korean language skills. She joined a dance circle focused on learning Kpop dances, an experience which allowed her to use her Japanese language skills outside of the classroom. She documented some of her experiences abroad in a video series called Living Life with Distractions that can be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xB-D0l_KRIY. Isabella writes, "I have met more lifelong friends from so many unique backgrounds than I have in my entire life. I now know that there are homes across many countries just waiting for me to come to visit and reconnect with my friends."
Alex Slone (Czech Republic, 2018-19) has returned to UCSD and is currently taking a full class load so he can graduate this quarter. He is interviewing for sales roles with a variety of technology companies. He notes that his study abroad experiences have instilled in him a desire to constantly experience new things, meet new people, and really push himself. He writes, "One thing that stuck with me from my travels that I've attempted to implement in my life back home is to focus on connecting with others. Some of my richest experiences abroad were with new people I met or relationships that formed.” Alex spent the summer backpacking in Jordan and Egypt. He has found the experience of cultural difference transformative. He writes, "It’s hard to explain but when you are surrounded by something that is completely foreign you start reading your own book and begin to learn more about what’s going on in your own head. Gone is the routine of back home that keeps you distracted. This is what I learned while studying abroad.”
UC Davis Inspiring Global Connections Reception
UCD Inspiring Global Connections (May 2019). From left to right: Verena, Stephanie, Minna Luu, Dolf, Moa Smith, and Ben.
Verena, Dolf, Ben and Chris' sister Stephanie Borton LeVesque attended the first annual Inspiring Global Connections Reception at UC Davis on May 10th. The event was designed to celebrate the life-shaping experiences that come from global learning opportunities and allow donors to connect with students who have studied abroad or participated in global, international and intercultural learning experiences. We were able to meet and get to know in person our inaugural two scholarship recipients from UC Davis: Minna Luu and Moa Smith. In addition, we got to meet and spend time with key people from Study Abroad and Global Affairs at our new partner university, UC Davis. Many thanks to Joanna Regulska, Ann Solomon, Zak Frieders and the rest of the team at UC Davis for inviting us to this event and making us feel so welcome.
Friends of the International Center - UCSD
All three current Borton Scholarship recipients from UCSD attended the Friends of the International Center Awards Dinner in May 2019 on campus. From left to right: Kayla Erler, Tammy Mok, and Devin Doss at the event.
Updates on past Borton Scholars:
Gio Castillo (Spain, 2017-18) returned to his social cognition research lab at UCSD last year. He has been learning to clean and sort large quantities of data while contributing to an experiment studying attentional bias in students showing symptoms of loneliness and depression. In addition, he has been taking an online course to teach himself statistical programming skills and reading psychological research with an eye towards picking the right graduate program (he currently favors a Master's program in Neuroscience). We were particularly pleased to hear that Gio wrote an article on the marketability of a study abroad experience in the workplace and job interviews: https://medium.com/@giocastillo/the-marketability-of-studying-abroad-43b32e91762a
Justin Lim (South Korea, 2016-17) is currently finishing his final year at UCSD with a focus on bioinformatics. After he graduates, he is hoping to work in a research capacity with a biotech or pharmaceutical company. Longer term, his goal is to apply to graduate school. He keeps up with friends he made during his year in South Korea using messaging apps. Justin writes that "many of the friends I made in Korea were also students studying abroad from other countries and the fact I continue to keep in touch with them is quite comforting because I know I have those connections in places across the globe."
Mary Ma (China, 2015-16) is currently working at a Chinese startup incubator in Shenzhen, dealing with early-stage startups in robotics and smart hardware. Her recent projects include designing the curriculum for a product development boot camp and a human centered design course for engineering undergraduates.
Daniel Lee (Japan, 2015-16) graduated from UC Berkeley with a Master's of Engineering in Computer Science, started an orchestra that plays anime, video games and film music, and started working as a software engineer at Uber. Daniel writes, "The interpersonal skills I acquired while I was studying abroad definitely helped put me where I am today. I still keep in contact with some friends in Japan and am able to keep up my Japanese proficiency."
Megan Bright (Germany, 2015-16) is in her first semester of law school at UC Berkeley. During her first term, she had the opportunity to see both Justice Elena Kagan and Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg speak. Megan works on the Berkeley International Law Journal, is a member of a student-initiated legal services project called the Reproductive Justice Project, and is a member of the Women of Berkeley Law group. Before starting law school, she was able to plan a trip with her sister to go back to Berlin. Megan writes, “It was amazing to be in the city again and I was very surprised by how well I could still communicate in German. We also had a wonderful dinner with my host family with white asparagus and lots of wine and beer.”
Christian Koguchi (Japan, 2014-15) got a Master's degree in artificial intelligence and robotics from UCSD. After completing his graduate degree, Christian worked on computer vision related problems as a data scientist at Lytx in San Diego, before being offered a position as an applied data scientist at Microsoft's Xbox Studios in Seattle. Christian writes, "I was a bit worried about moving to a new place and not knowing anyone there. However, having moved halfway around the world to Northern Japan, I knew I wouldn't have any problems. I've weathered typhoons, snow, rain, and the difficulties of making new friends in a city I've never been to when I traveled to Tohoku. The Seattle rain can't get to this Californian!”
Sunny Young (The Netherlands, 2014-15) is in her second year of graduate school at Cal State Fullerton for Speech-Language Pathology. Along with her courses, Sunny has completed an adult, child, and multicultural clinical practicum, and will be completing a school practicum next semester, an advanced medical practicum during the summer, and lastly, a transgender voice clinic in fall of 2020. Sunny writes, “One thing that has been absolutely awesome is the growing availability of stroopwafels locally.”
Shelby Newallis (Italy, 2014-15) is preparing for her Master's thesis defense at the University of Gastronomic Sciences in Pollenzo, Italy. She has been able to form strong connections with classmates, travel to new places (Israel, Japan & Spain) and develop a passion for making sourdough bread. After her coursework finished in July, she spent a month in a rural mountain town in northern Italy learning about farming and mountain cheesemaking. She is currently a baker at a sourdough bakery and brewery in Long Beach, CA, close to her hometown. Working with food has motivated her to learn as much as she can to fulfill her long term goal of opening her own multipurpose "space" to focus on food and garden education, personal, public and environmental health through connecting to the raw ingredients. She writes that "living abroad is the ultimate growing experience."
Brenda Vega (Spain, 2013-14) is living in San Diego and recently finished nursing school and obtained a Registered Nurse license. She is in the process of applying for a position in the hospital setting to enhance her clinical skills and hopes to obtain a public health certification in the near future. Brenda writes, “I will also be getting married next month so it has been quite a year.”
Tamar Freeland (Spain, 2010-11) is living and taking classes toward an MA in Spanish in Madrid, Spain. She is taking a year sabbatical from her job as a Spanish teacher in the Elk Grove school district. In her free time, she has been hiking in the Sierra Guardarrama, exploring the city, going to concerts, trying new foods, going to museums, and doing a language exchange with a Brazilian friend she made one day in the supermarket. Tamar writes, "I hope to take more day trips and travel during the holidays, and I'm looking forward to visiting my Chilean host family in June before my last term begins in Buenos Aires."
Yoshie Yamamoto (Japan, 2010-11) moved back home to the Bay Area this year. She is currently working on a medical-oncology unit at a local community hospital where she provides end-of-life care, work which Yoshie writes "allows me to reflect on the transient nature of life and cultivate gratitude for life's simplest pleasures." She recently passed the board examination and became a Certified Medical-Surgical Registered Nurse (CMSRN). Yoshie writes, "I am grateful for the Borton Scholarship Fund for continuing to support students in their journey abroad to not only study in a different country but also for revealing their true unique selves and getting one step closer to finding their life purpose through the special interactions and experiences they encounter along the way."
Hanna Rahimi (France, 2009-10) is currently in her fourth year of teaching Spanish at Tamalpais High School in Mill Valley, CA. She loves the dynamism and challenge of the profession, and most of all delights in inspiring young folks to pursue their own study abroad dreams whenever possible. Hanna and her wife of four years, Vanessa, are expecting a baby boy who is due at the end of January, so they are excitedly immersed in learning about the whole new reality of what it will mean to be parents. Hanna writes that they "plan on raising their son to be bilingual, so he's already on the right track to study abroad himself!"
Alexandra DeLaney (Denmark, 2009-10) is married and lives in Philadelphia with her husband Patrick and their dog River. She completed a PhD in Cell and Molecular Biology in July and has begun law school at the University of Pennsylvania. Alexandra will graduate in 2022 and plans to pursue a career in intellectual property. She writes, "I am enjoying law school immensely so far and I am excited to see what is in store for the future."
Kipp Trieu (France, 2008-09) was kind enough to meet current Borton scholar Minna Luu for lunch prior to her departure for Sciences Po in Paris, France. Kipp was able to share pointers and experiences from his time at Sciences Po a little more than a decade ago. Minna writes, "He was absolutely wonderful to talk to and his insights truly saved me from a lot of the culture shock I think I would've experienced without his advice.”
Laura Summers (The Netherlands, 2008-09) is living in Denver and started a new job this year as a Product Designer with Twilio SendGrid. She and her husband are looking forward to skiing as much as possible this season. She writes that "the smell of the cold air still reminds me of Holland and makes me feel a little nostalgic for study abroad."
Nicola Hil (France, 2007-08) and her husband Amaury continue their career with the U.S. Foreign Service. In May 2019, Nicola and Amaury moved to Pakistan for a one year assignment at the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad. Nicola works in the Political Section of the Embassy as a Program Monitor for the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor. Her job regularly takes her outside the Embassy to meet with program partners and beneficiaries. She has also been involved in the Embassy community where she teaches yoga and participates in community events such as a recent triathlon and fun run. Nicola and Amaury will be in Islamabad until May 2020 when they will head back to Washington, DC for training ahead of their next assignment, a three year tour in Morocco. Nicola is excited to once more be in a Francophone country, as she has continued to speak French regularly ever since her year in France as a Borton Scholar.
Paul Suarez (Spain, 2006-07) left his job in the summer of 2018 and traveled through Europe with his wife and two sons, then aged 3 and 1. They went to several different cities, staying about a month in each one, and came back home to Los Angeles by way of Montreal in late April 2019. Paul's wife Quyen was part of the Madrid EAP program with him and they loved getting back to Spain. Paul started a new job at a Johnson and Johnson medical device company in July and things are going well so far.
Halley (Henscey) Penno (Italy, 2006-07) continues to work as a speech-language pathologist, half in English and half in Spanish. She and her husband went on a belated honeymoon that included her first trip to Perugia since she lived there during her year abroad 13 years ago. Halley writes, "It was every bit as wonderful as I remembered! It was so special to show my husband the town that changed my life forever. Thank you for making international learning and friendships possible for so many students."
Joachim Lyon (China, 2004-05) is living in San Francisco and working in Mountain View at Intuit. Over the last two and half years he has been working as a researcher in the small business group at Intuit (products like QuickBooks). He writes, "It’s been so exciting because in my prior (academic) career I was an ethnographer of work and organizations, traveling to various locations like Shanghai and Milan to do fieldwork. These days, I get to apply the same skill set and passion for understanding people’s lives around the world — only now I lead engineers, designers, and business people on projects to help them shape products in a way that can improve the lives of millions of small businesses."
Alice (Wagner) Robertson (Scotland, 2004-05) and her husband Scott have a two year old boy named Lewis and are expecting a baby girl. Alice has been staying home with Lewis but was still able to teach science to a small class of home schooled students last year. Once her kids are older, Alice plans to go back to school to teach and hopefully earn a PhD in education. They hope to travel internationally next summer to France and Germany where Alice’s sister lives.
Brian Israel (United Kingdom, 2003-04) continues to work with the space exploration company he co-founded. In October, on the opening day of the International Astronautical Congress, his company launched an open source, citizen-led space sustainability system. You can find more information at www.trusat.org (from a 90 second introductory video to a detailed white paper), and in this press release. Brian writes that "this is our first experiment in building platforms to enable citizen-led collaboration on an Earth scale." His daughter Adelina is five and just started kindergarten and his son Dennis is 11 months old.
Jonathan Wang (Japan, 2003-04) is living in Palo Alto. After he graduated from UCSD he became an engineer at NVIDIA, got an MS in Computer Science from Stanford, and more recently has been a product manager at Microsoft, Facebook and Instagram.
Ellen Holloway (Spain, 2001-02) is working for the Children’s Law Center in Sacramento representing children in foster care. Ellen writes, "I love connecting and advocating for such a deserving population." In her free time Ellen cycles, backpacks and plays fetch with her dog Benny."
Nicole (Wu) Hirsch (France, 1999-00) and her family moved back to the United States from Tokyo four years ago. They are currently living in the Dallas Fort Worth area. She has two boys aged six and eight and is running an interior design business from home. Her family loves to travel and they are thinking about a trip to Europe next summer. Nicole writes, "Would love to go back to Montpellier and show the kids around!”
Website
The website has a new look this year and its own domain. In addition to the rich content we have accumulated over the years, we have added more information for students interested in applying for a Borton Scholarship or in study abroad generally, as well as information for existing and potential donors and partner universities. Please visit the site at https//www.bortonscholarship.org and feel free to share the link with anyone interested in education abroad.
Thanks to all of you who enable us to support the efforts of these remarkable young people to become world citizens and in doing so honor and remember Chris,
