Each academic year, two scholarships are award to American Culture undergraduate students who show outstanding merit and also have financial need. This year's recipients are Nicole García and Erica Gehringer.

Nicole García will be graduating this year with a major in American Culture in Latina/o Studies. She has been well known within our department as a serious, ambitious, and committed student.  For the past two years, she has served as the undergraduate representative on our Latina/o Studies Advisory Board.  Nicole’s ultimate goal is to earn a Masters degree in health behavior and health education.  She will then take that training to improve access to preventative screenings for cancer for low-income Latino communities. Nicole really represents what an American Culture education can do for a student interested in health and science.

Erica Gehringer has similar ambitions, but directed towards the field of Social Work.  Erica has enjoyed a long and direct engagement with our Asian/Pacific Islander American Studies Program.  Currently, she is hard at work on a rigorous senior thesis on transnational and transracial adoption.  Upon graduation, Erica plans to continue with that interest by pursuing a joint PhD and Master’s of Social work.  She hopes to devote her career to working with the adoption community.  Erica, we have no doubt, will go far in a career in Social Work. Her time in American Culture has given her a deeper appreciation of her own experiences and a wider view that will serve the many families she will help in the future.

The Undergraduate Committee believes that both Nicole and Erica represent the substantial promise and rewards of American Culture's degree programs.  Winning the Joel S. Siegel Scholarship recognizes their merit and potential.  Congratulations to them both!