The Enhance Your Education (EYE) Grant provides up to $1,000 to support travel, supplies or other costs associated with your honors capstone, study abroad program or honors-related research/artistry endeavor.
Read about the recipients and their experiences:
Laila Whiteurst was selected to receive funding to assist her with being able to attend the Political Science DC Spring Break Trip and pay for her flight. Participating in this program benefited her academic experience by giving her the opportunity to explore DC as a freshman. She had never been to DC before, but as a political science major it was a great opportunity to speak with professionals in the field as well as become familiar with locations in the area she could possibly intern with in the upcoming years and start building relationships.
Abby Zacatzi was awarded funding to participate in the Southeast Asia study abroad program with the College of Business. The study abroad project has already opened many doors. Abby was able to connect on LinkedIn with some of the speakers and still has them as connections. This experience also brought her closer to her faculty at NIU. During the trip she oversaw bringing the NIU flag and taking pictures of the team with it, when she brought it back to Dr. Lee it instantly sparked
conversation about the trip. Additionally, from participating in the program she was invited to apply as a study abroad ambassador and is a member now. Everyone mentions how studying abroad changes your life, she just didn’t realize how much it was going to change and how fast it would happen for her. This funding helped Abby tremendously with traveling and unexpected expenses with her visa.
Hannah Havel was funded to study abroad in Mexico which gave her exposure to Latin American culture and the dialect and linguistics of Spanish in Mexico. Mexican Spanish is what has been primarily taught in her Spanish courses from middle school to NIU. During her time abroad, Hannah was able to live with an Oaxacan family and celebrate New Year’s Eve and Day as well as Día de Los Reyes with them. Cultural excursions throughout Oaxaca from exploring Monte Albán to cooking authentic Oaxacan gave her a new sense of appreciation for their culture. Hannah feels that after graduating from NIU she will be a confident global scholar and Spanish speaker. Being given funding for this experience through Honors, she was able to fulfill her summer with an internship instead, ensuring that she can be immersed in Latin American culture and Spanish language before she graduates.
