2010 Cornaro Scholarship Recipients

The Cornaro Scholarship Committee announces the winners of the 2010 KGP scholarship competition! This prestigious scholarship, currently in the amount of $3000, is open only to members of Kappa Gamma Pi and may be used for graduate expenses at any accredited university. In 2010 the Cornaro Scholarships were given to three very deserving winners:

 

Cassandra Bales (College of Nortre Dame of Maryland 2009)

Cassandra will pursue a Master of Arts in Statecraft and National Security Affairs at the In­stitute of World Politics in Wash­ington, D.C. Cassandra deferred her acceptance in this program for a year in order to fulfill a prestigious Fulbright Teach­ing Assistantship in Indonesia. While a student, Cassandra volunteered at the Hispanic Apostolate (now the Esperanza Center in Baltimore’s Fells Point neighborhood) teaching immi­grants English and small children at a day care center to read and write. Following graduation, she spent nine months in Indonesia teaching English to high school students.

“It is so exciting helping my students better their skills,” Cassandra wrote. “I am also volunteering at Hotline AIDS Surabaya, an organization helping women with HIV/AIDS, teaching English to staff and clients. No matter what part of the world I am in, it is important to me to feel useful and part of the community.”

About her decision to study national security, Cassandra notes, “I became captivated by politics during the 2000 presidential election as I learned about the motivations and drives behind political actions. My college education allowed me to develop a framework in which to analyze and understand the world and politics. It is my goal to enter government service to work for the betterment of my country; I want to ensure that the United States is secure and well-respected. Towards this goal, I am ex­cited to attend the Institute of World Politics because the school does not only consider pragmatic facts but also ethical issues. While I do not know specifically with what agency or in which field I wish to seek future employment, I know that I want to be in a position to ensure that policy-makers have the necessary informa­tion to make sound decisions with an awareness to potential consequences. In the long term, I hope to be in a position to actively influence foreign policy and help secure the future of the United States in an increasingly global-oriented world.”

Ryan Brennan (University of San Diego, CA 2010)

Ryan will attend the UCLA School of Dentistry. As an undergrad, Ryan just about did it all: worked as a Resident As­sistant for three years, served as a Eucharistic Minister for University Ministry at USD, was photography editor for the USD student newspa­per The Vista, participated as club historian for Motor Board, the Alcala Senior Honors Society at USD, and played several intramural sports. A biochemistry major, in his freshman year Ryan founded the USD Dental Club. He initiated the Casa de San Eugenio Dental Project and obtained grant funding for pre-dental students and dentists to travel once a month to Tijuana, Mexico, to provide free dental care to the community.

“My career aspirations are to become a successful, practicing dentist, using my skills to give back to the commu­nity,” Ryan wrote. “Searching for a means to fuse both my passions for service and science, I became curious about dentistry. I began to shadow my local dentist, Dr. Ito, and I ob­served him making an impact and serving the community. Through the service trips I coordinate in Tijuana, I see how my dental career can be used to serve others. . . . After dental school, I plan to work in an underserved area, either through the National Health Service Corps or an Indian Medical Center.” Ryan also envisions establishing his own private practice, while continuing to provide volunteer service. “It would be my pleasure to serve as the attending dentist on a service trip to Casa de San Eugenio, the organiza­tion I established.”

 

Marius Sidău (Madonna University, MI 2010)

While completing his B.A. in sociology at MU in Livonia, Marius served as student government vice president and as president of Chi Alpha Epsilon Honor Society, Gamma Epsilon chapter, and was an active vol­unteer at St. George Romanian Church in Southfield, MI, serving as a cantor and catechist. Marius wrote, “Trying to walk in the footsteps of Christ and St. Francis, MU’s patron, I think that selfless giving and helping others must be the essential traits of Christian life. Therefore, I strongly believe in volunteering and helping in the Church and beyond.”

Marius will begin a Master of Arts program in Cultural Anthropology at Wayne State University in Detroit this fall. An Earhart Scholar at MU, Marius completed an independent research project that included a two-week trip to Woodburn, Oregon. He wrote, “I visited the Rus­sian Old Believers community in Woodburn to determine whether they are a ‘sub-culture’ or ‘counter-culture’ of the United States. I hope to further explore this religious minority and their future in America in a master’s thesis. In a somewhat related way, I also have an interest in Ne­pal, Tibet, and Bhutan, studying the effect on the people of different governmental policies (embrace, rejection, limited acceptance) regarding the seemingly inevitable arrival of Westernization and tourism. I am interested in studying how traditional cultures preserve themselves despite wider cultural changes—such as what I directly observed growing up in Romania during and after Communism. My ultimate goal is to become a college professor in Anthropology while doing field research in either Eastern Europe or Asia.”

Application forms for the 2011 Cornaro Scholarship are available and can be downloaded from the Cornaro webpage. Applications and reference letters are due by April 20, 2011. The award stipend for next year's competition will again be $3000.00, nonrenewable.