Clockwise from left: Mi Jin Park ’18, Ronald McNair Scholar recipient; Nicole Rodriguez-Rowe ’19, Frontier Fellowship recipient; Roberto Garcia ’19, Ronald McNair Scholar recipient; Katherine Hendrickson ’19, Harry S. Truman National Fellowship nominee; Jonathan Barbosa ’18, Ronald McNair Scholar recipient; Natalee Deaette ’19, Harry S. Truman National Fellowship nominee (seated in chair); Nanayaw Appiah-Kubi ’19, Ronald McNair Scholar recipient (seated on arm of chair)
Jessica Barnes, a senior from Stafford Springs, Conn., majoring in Applied Psychology and Human Development at the Lynch School of Education and Human Development (Lynch School), has been named a finalist for a prestigious Fulbright grant, awarded to college students for academic accomplishment and leadership potential.
“I am so incredibly grateful for the opportunities and professors at the Lynch School and specifically the students and staff at the Campus School, who led me to apply to Fulbright and who supported me throughout the process directly and indirectly,” said Barnes, whose minors are Management and Leadership and Faith, Peace and Justice.
The Lynch School senior will compete for the merit-based grant to spend a post-baccalaureate year abroad to study or conduct research. Founded by U.S. Senator J. William Fulbright in 1946, the program was established to increase mutual understanding between the United States and other countries through the exchange of persons, knowledge, and skills.
Barnes leads an impressive roster of undergraduate scholars from the school who have already won or are vying for national academic awards, according to Julia DeVoy, Lynch School's associate dean of undergraduate students.
Specifically, Lynch School has three nominees for the coveted Harry S. Truman National Fellowship this year: Natalee Deaette of Newport Center, Vt.; Katherine Hendrickson of Seattle; and Bryan Paula Gonzalez of Worcester. They will advance to the national level of competition for the single awardee per state. Created by Congress in 1975 as a memorial to the 33rd U.S. president, the Truman scholarship is given to U.S. college juniors based on demonstrated leadership potential and a commitment to public service.
Lynch School also has eight students who are recipients of the U.S. Department of Education-funded Ronald McNair Scholar program, which prepares undergraduates from underrepresented groups to pursue and attain doctoral degrees and to enter careers in research and academia. They are:
- Anthony Abarca - Major/Applied Psychology and Human Development
- Nanayaw Appiah-Kubi - Major/Applied Psychology and Human Development
- Jonathan Barbosa - Major/Secondary Education
- Roberto Garcia - Major/Applied Psychology and Human Development
- Ruperto Peres - Major/Applied Psychology and Human Development
- Anabel Torres - Major/Applied Psychology and Human Development
- Mi Jin Park - Minor/Applied Psychology and Human Development
- Jesse Rascon - Minor/Foundation in Education
In addition, Nicole Rodriguez-Rowe, a Lynch School junior, is one of four BC undergrads to receive a Frontier Fellowship this year. The Applied Psychology & Human Development major from Clifton, N.J., will use her $5,000 award to fund an ethnographic study of economic disparities in Boston using photography and accompanying interviews and essays. The Frontier Fellowship was inspired by Adolfo Nicolas, S.J., former superior general of the Society of Jesus.
“We are extremely proud of all of our undergraduate scholars, who have excelled in and outside of the classroom,” said DeVoy. “We are particularly delighted that so many of our students have either already won an award or earned consideration for such prominent and distinguished honors. It is an affirmation of the type of students who are attracted to the Lynch School and to the support and mentoring they receive from our faculty.”