Nicole Scoggins was greeted by snow when she first arrived in Paris, a rare sight in France’s capital.
Scoggins didn’t have much time to appreciate the unusual snowfall in a city that sees flurries that rarely stick to the ground for long. She was whisked from the plane directly to orientation for her study abroad, which would last five months.
Scoggins’ trip was supported by the Gilman scholarship, a federal program offering awardees up to $5,000 to travel abroad to the destination of their choice. A similar program for active military personnel also affords scholarships through the John S. McCain (Gilman-McCain) International Scholarship for Military Families. The scholarships are open to students who received a Federal Pell grant and are designed to assist students who normally wouldn’t study abroad due to the cost. The fall application is due Oct. 1, and the spring application is due Feb. 25, 2027.
During her five months in France, Scoggins immersed herself in the language and culture. The social Sciences major took several classes, including travel writing and 19th-century art history. Scoggins said her writing class rarely took place in a classroom and instead visited the locales around Paris where famous writers such as James Baldwin and Ernest Hemingway worked. Her art history class was similarly hosted outside the lecture hall.
“Pretty much each week we went to a different museum within the city or a different gallery,” she said. “We kind of used the city as our classroom in a way.”
Scoggins’ length of stay also allowed her to visit some galleries outside the typical large museums and enter the “hidden city,” she said.
“We used the city as our playground,” she said. “We traveled to Paris for a reason, and we got to experience it in such a different way.”
But she also had an unexpected injury that required her to use the intercultural skills she learned on the trip. After a stubbed toe turned out to be broken, she was able to navigate the city alone and communicate with hospital staff enough to receive care.
“Thankfully, I had my travel insurance, so everything went super smoothly,” she said. “I feel like it was a really great growth experience … It’s good to know that you can take care of yourself in very stressful environments.”
Scoggins said the trip was life-changing and thanked the former International Programs Education Abroad Advisor Cara Welch, and Distinguished Scholarships Program Director April Seehafer, for helping her navigate the application process.
“(They) really helped me through like, the whole process … because I’ve always wanted to do it. I just never thought it was something like, I could do,” she said. “I want to be an educator in the future. I really just want to like, encourage students to travel outside of the U.S. I think it’s a very once-in-a-lifetime experience that changes everything for the better and just helps you grow in so many ways you didn’t imagine.”
Seven WSU students earned Gilman and Gilman-McCain scholarships during the spring 2026 application period: Ryan Ashley, Faculty-Led Spain: Spanish Language and Culture by the Mediterranean Sea; Jenna Bastian, Faculty-Led Fiji: Community Health in Fiji; Stacy Kvashia, ISEP Direct South Korea, Seoul: Yonsei University; Eva Gill, Faculty-Led Zambia: Community, Culture, and Healthcare in Zambia; Matea Shizuru, Intern Abroad HQ South Africa, Cape Town: Public Health Internships; Mellisa Juarez Garcia, Faculty-Led Spain: First Generation Abroad Seville; Gabriella Gray, Exchange ISEP Chile: Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso.
