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Sarah Chankin-Gould Wins National Security Education Program Scholarship

The award from the National Security Education Program allots up to $17,000 per recipient and will allow Chankin-Gould to spend spring semester 2002 studying the Mexican political system, the country’s social problems, and Latin American development issues.

“I originally viewed studying in Mexico as an opportunity to enrich my understanding of the government and politics of a major Latin American country, and to immerse myself in the culture and language,” said Chankin-Gould, a graduate of the PACE program at Polytechnic High School. “At that time, however, no one could have foreseen just how momentous this period in Mexican history would be. The election of Vincente Fox on July 2, 2000, and the peaceful end of PRI rule are indications of dramatic political changes in Mexico that make this opportunity even more compelling.”

Upon graduation, Chankin-Gould plans to forge a career in international relations. “Someday I hope to find myself in a professional role in which I am making a substantive contribution toward the achievement of peace and justice,” she said. In the fall, Chankin-Gould will spend a semester as an intern at the United Nations. That program is coordinated by Oxy’s International and North American Programs Office.

The David L. Boren Scholarship is named after the former Oklahoma senator whose David L. Boren Act of 1991 started the Virginia-based NSEP. The legislation created a trust fund to provide for national investment in higher education in international studies and to build a base of expertise that would be available to the government.

Recipients of NSEP scholarships and fellowships incur an obligation to work either in higher education or for an office or agency of the federal government involved in national security affairs. Up to 150 undergraduates a year are awarded Boren scholarships to study abroad.