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Jooyeon Koo, a history major in Boston College’s Class of 2012, was named to the 2011 Gilder Lehrman History Scholars Program, which identifies and supports the top undergraduate majors in American history across the country.
As one of only 10 students in the nation to be selected for this prestigious scholarship, Koo participated in a five-week intensive history research program in New York City, which ran from June 26 to July 30, 2011.
“The Gilder Lehrman Institute welcomes these bright, young historians,” said Professor James G. Basker, in a news release announcing the 2011 scholars. “We are pleased to work with these exceptional undergraduates as they pursue their research and careers,” added Basker, who is president of the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, which sponsors the program.
“I am very grateful for the opportunity to have spent this summer in New York doing what I love–-history,” Koo said. “This research experience will be really helpful as I write my senior history thesis in the upcoming year. I hope to pursue graduate study in history in the future.”
During the summer program, scholarship recipients develop primary source research projects using rare, unpublished historical documents in the Gilder Lehrman Collection, and participate in seminars led by distinguished historians. The students also receive behind-the-scenes tours of rare archives at the New York Historical Society, the New York Public Library, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and other institutions.
According to the Institute, this year there were more than 250 applicants, representing 180 institutions, to the program. Since 2003, more than 400 college sophomores and juniors have been named to the Gilder Lehrman History Scholars Program, and many have gone on to pursue graduate studies at leading universities.
A member of BC’s College of Arts & Sciences Honors Program, Koo was inducted into the prestigious national honor society Phi Beta Kappa in 2011. Her other academic honors include a BC Advanced Study Grant in 2011 and an ACC-IAC scholarship in 2010 for summer study abroad.
Among other activities, she has served as a resident assistant since 2009 and is a violinist in BC’s Chamber Music Society and Irish Studies fiddle program. Koo also has tutored local elementary students through BC’s Neighborhood Center.
Founded in 1994, the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History is a nonprofit organization improving and enriching American history education through a wide range of programs and resources for students, teachers, scholars, and history enthusiasts throughout the nation.