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Sarah Grausz Wins National Security Education Program Scholarship
Sarah Grausz, a sophomore diplomacy and world affairs major at Occidental College, has been awarded a David L. Boren Scholarship to study at the School for International Training in Zagreb, Croatia.
She also will take field excursions to Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Slovenia. The award from the National Security Education Program allots up to $10,000 per recipient and will allow Grausz to spend the fall semester working with grass roots and women’s advocacy groups to examine how political and social agendas are implemented within emerging democracies. Grausz is the fourth Occidental student since 2002 to win a Boren Scholarship.
“My decision to apply for an NSEP scholarship is founded in my adherence to the moral and civic responsibility I feel as an American and as an international citizen,” Grausz said. “Learning to measure personal growth through respect and communication with cultures and perspectives besides my own are family values that were taught to me at a young age. These values I hope will push me to new levels of academic understanding overseas.
“My family history, rooted mainly in western Slavic states, is inextricably linked to the tragedy of the Holocaust,” she added. “Therein lies the possibility of discovering a deeper side to my own heritage while researching the causes and effects of ethnic cleansing on a society.”
Upon graduation, Grausz is considering pursuing a career in journalism, policymaking, or community organizing.
The David L. Boren Scholarship is named after the former Oklahoma senator whose David L. Boren Act of 1991 established 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.