National Academic Achievement Award Recipients

Emily Wilbourne ’22

 

Emily Wilbourne ‘22, graduated as an arts administration major with a double minor in dance and interreligious studies, was awarded the 2021 Forum on Education Abroad Award for Academic Achievement Abroad for her research titled “The Impact of Japanese Colonialism on the Religiosity of Korean Seungmu Dance.” Emily worked with her two mentors, Dr. Casey Avaunt and Dr. Pamela Winfield, to design her research as one component of her Multifaith Scholars experience. Supported by grants from Elon, including a faculty-mentored undergraduate research grant from CRGE, she traveled to Korea twice as part of the research process.

Upon graduation, Emily will be keeping up with seungmu literature, but pursuing other interests.

Emily learning to dance with the traditional long sleeves of seungmu, called jangsam.

Emily in front of the Bulguksa Temple in Gyeongju, South Korea. This temple is a head temple of the Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Taylor Garner ’20

Taylor Garner ’20 received the Forum on Education Abroad 2019 Award for Academic Achievement  Abroad, which recognizes significant academic projects during an education abroad program, during forum’s virtual annual conference.

Garner explains her research in a virtual question-and-answer session.

Taylor Garner ’20, bottom right, talking about her research during the virtual conference.

Garner’s work on her thesis, “Mobilizing Memories: Women’s Affective and Embodied Memory Work in Argentina and Palestine,” took her to Buenos Aires, Argentina, for a semester and to Nablus, Palestine, for a summer. An Honors Fellow Garner has also won a Center for Research on Global Engagement research grant, the Undergraduate Research Program Advisory Committee’s Rawls grant, and the Heidi Frontani Memorial Study Abroad Essay Contest, which comes with an award to support study abroad.

These connections and conversations were powerful cross-cultural moments for Garner to learn about the complexity of her host community while also addressing stereotypes about the United States. When Garner was asked charged questions, she saw it as an opportunity to broaden and complicate certain one-dimensional views of American identities.

The award comes with a $500 prize to help support Garner’s research moving forward. In the meantime, Garner shared advice for future education abroad students: “Don’t let anyone tell you that studying abroad is not hard, because it is … but it’s supposed to be hard. It’s supposed to challenge your perspective.”

*Excerpts of the featured story about Taylor Garner from the Elon News Network were used to write this.