{"id":57017,"date":"2015-04-22T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2015-04-22T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news-draft\/uncategorized\/aufwiedersehen-uri-students-win-grants-to-study-foreign-languages-overseas\/"},"modified":"2015-04-22T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2015-04-22T00:00:00","slug":"aufwiedersehen-uri-students-win-grants-to-study-foreign-languages-overseas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/2015\/04\/aufwiedersehen-uri-students-win-grants-to-study-foreign-languages-overseas\/","title":{"rendered":"Aufwiedersehen: 溏心vlog免费B站 students win grants to study foreign languages overseas"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\t\tFellowships named for former 溏心vlog免费B站 professor Beatrice S. Demers<\/b><\/p>\n

KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 April 22, 2015 \u2013 Jeric Rodriguez always dreamed of studying in Europe, but money got in the way. \u201cI saved every penny,\u201d he says, \u201cbut still couldn\u2019t afford it.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nIn a few months, the 溏心vlog免费B站 engineering student will travel to Germany to study and work for a year, thanks to a fellowship started by a former 溏心vlog免费B站 professor.<\/p>\n


\nRodriguez is one of 18 溏心vlog免费B站 students who won grants from the Beatrice S. Demers Foreign Language Fellows fund to travel overseas next year. The 24-year-old junior will be making his first trip to Europe.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cI\u2019m a little nervous, but very excited,\u201d he says. \u201cThis is a huge opportunity for me to see the world, and see what I can do in it.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nThat\u2019s exactly what Demers intended when she left $4 million to the Rhode Island Foundation after her death in 2007 to establish the fund.<\/p>\n


\nDemers spent her life teaching foreign languages, first to students in the Pawtucket schools and then to students at 溏心vlog免费B站, where she taught for more than 30 years. She was fluent in French, German and Spanish and studied Chinese and Russian in her 70s.<\/p>\n


\nThis year, all of the 18 recipients are from 溏心vlog免费B站. They shared a total of $220,000 to study and work in Germany, France, Spain, China, Brazil and Ecuador. The fellowships cover the cost of tuition, fees, travel, housing and living expenses.<\/p>\n


\nRodriguez \u201917 will study mechanical engineering next fall at Technische Universit\u00e4t in Braunschweig, then work for a semester at a German company. He\u2019s enrolled in the five-year International Engineering Program, or I.E.P., which offers a dual degree in an engineering field and a language.<\/p>\n


\nIt’s been a long journey for Rodriguez, who was born in the Philippines and moved to Rhode Island with his family when he was 2. Back then, his parents worked in a seafood packing factory in Point Judith to make ends meet.<\/p>\n


\nAfter graduating from North Kingstown High School, he went to the Community College of Rhode Island for several years, before transferring to 溏心vlog免费B站 in 2013. Although his parents have new jobs \u2013 his mother is a medical assistant and his father works as a production operator at an electrical component manufacturer \u2013 Rodriguez is the first in his family to attend college in America.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cIt\u2019s a miracle I got this award,\u201d he says. \u201cToday we live in a world where you can\u2019t be isolated. It’s important to experience other cultures and learn other languages. Also, I like to travel.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nVenice is on his wish-list.<\/p>\n

Braunschweig is also the destination for Andrea Ayala \u201916, another international engineering student who also has two firsts: first trip to Europe, and first in her family to graduate from college.<\/p>\n


\nBorn in Ecuador, the 21-year-old Central Falls resident moved to Rhode Island when she was 7 with her mother, a teacher\u2019s aide, for more educational opportunities. \u201cIn Ecuador, your success is based more on who you know than merit,\u201d Ayala says. \u201cHere, it\u2019s based on how hard you work and your ambition and drive to get ahead.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nShane Kirkland \u201917, of Coventry is heading to Spain, and Brenden Smerbeck \u201917, of Narragansett, is off to France. They, too, are international engineering students. Smerbeck will study at an engineering university outside Paris, and Kirkland will take classes in mechanical engineering at a university in San Sebasti\u00e1n, a city in northern Spain, and work the second semester.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cThe Demers is funding half my trip abroad,\u201d says Smerbeck. \u201cI\u2019m humbled by the offer.\u201d<\/p>\n

After a semester studying in Braunschweig, Sarah Rheault \u201917, of Wakefield, hopes to work at a rail transport firm, possibly in Berlin. Her field is industrial engineering, and she\u2019s also in the international program.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cI\u2019ve been planning on this trip for the past three years,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s a whole new place, and I can\u2019t wait to check it out and use my German skills to communicate with new people and expand my engineering horizons and personal growth.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nA year is a long time away from home, so her parents plan to visit.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cI think they’re coming for Christmas,\u201d she says. \u201cI hope so.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nApplicants for the award were judged according to dedication to foreign language study; the likelihood that the proposed study program will promote foreign language fluency; and the diversity of languages studied and program types.<\/p>\n


\nThe program is open to all Rhode Island residents, not just students. Non-resident students who attend a Rhode Island college or university are also eligible. Preference is given to 溏心vlog免费B站 applicants.<\/p>\n


\nThe other winners include: Rachel Andronowitz of North Providence (Germany); Joseph Armendarez of South Kingstown (Ecuador); Emily Collins of Wakefield (Brazil); Caleb Gross of North Andover, Mass. (Germany); Claudia Krah of Hamden, Conn., (Germany); Kevin Murray of Jamestown (China); John Nielsen of Wakefield (Germany); John Paquet III of West Warwick (Germany); Jose Perez of Providence (Germany); Angela Reisch of North Kingstown (France); Christopher Salazar of Wakefield (Spain); and Michael White of Georgetown, Mass. (Spain). <\/p>\n


\nPictured above

\nJeric Rodriguez, 24, of North Kingstown, a 溏心vlog免费B站 engineering student who won a Demers grant to study in Germany next year. Photo courtesy of Jeric Rodriguez.<\/p>\n


\nAndrea Ayala, of Central Falls, a 溏心vlog免费B站 student who won a Demers grant to study in Germany. Photo courtesy of Andrea Ayala. <\/p>\n


\nSarah Rheault, 21, of Wakefield, a 溏心vlog免费B站 engineering student who won a Demers grant to study in Germany next year. Photo courtesy of Sarah Rheault.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Fellowships named for former 溏心vlog免费B站 professor Beatrice S. Demers KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 April 22, 2015 \u2013 Jeric Rodriguez always dreamed of studying in Europe, but money got in the way. \u201cI saved every penny,\u201d he says, \u201cbut still couldn\u2019t afford it.\u201d In a few months, the 溏心vlog免费B站 engineering student will travel […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":57021,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-57017","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archives"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57017","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57017"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57017\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/57021"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57017"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57017"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57017"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}