UNH Today

Three students have been awarded B. Thomas Trout scholarships to study abroad this year. Andrew Jablonski and Camden Warren were each awarded $2,500 to study in Dijon, France, for the 2017 fall semester. Sierra Mullin was awarded $1,000 to study in the 6-week Costa Rica program in summer 2017.

A junior from Newmarket, N.H., Jablonski is pursuing French, German and international affairs majors. French has been his passion since seventh grade, says Jablonski, who has been so dedicated to the language that he even took two advanced French courses at UNH while still a senior in high school. The leg up in coursework is part of what's allowed him to fit three majors into his schedule.

"I am honored to represent the Trout Scholarship while in France, standing for what he [B. Thomas Trout] believed in about international studies as being an important part of a college career," says Jablonski, "and also allowing me to reflect and further my understanding of the complications of the world, and how we can improve them."

This is Jablonski's second time winning the Trout Scholarship. Last year the award helped him study in Berlin, Germany.

Warren is a junior history and international affairs dual major from Alton, N.H. His career ambition is to work with people of different nationalities and backgrounds both here in the U.S. and abroad. In order to achieve this goal, he's convinced he has to supplement his classroom learning with experience in a foreign country.

"I have had the chance in the past to travel to historical sites here in the United States and I can confidently say that going to the places where momentous events in history occurred gives a much deeper and complete understanding not only for what happened there, but how those events have shaped and continue to shape our world today," says Warren.

Warren has also received the Foley Jackson Award from UNH's Center for International Education and Global Engagement, a scholarship that will further support his Dijon study.

Mullin, a freshman Spanish major from Nashua, N.H., hopes her experience in Costa Rica will hone her cultural and language skills, providing a "jump-start" to her academic career and, eventually, her job prospects. Plus the extra credits she'll earn on the program may even allow her to fit in a second major before she graduates, she says.

"Bettering my Spanish will help me get closer to achieving a personal goal of becoming fluent in Spanish," says Mullin, who also looks forward to expanding her worldview through connecting with other U.S. students, Costa Rican students, and her host family.

The late B. Thomas Trout was a professor of political science and an associate dean in the College of Liberal Arts. Throughout his career, Professor Trout actively and tirelessly promoted international studies as a vital part of the college curriculum. He was equally dedicated to the development of study abroad programs for undergraduates, convinced that expanding the range of international study opportunities for American college students was integral to their understanding of a complicated world.

In Professor Trout's honor, the College of Liberal Arts established the B. Thomas Trout Scholars Fund, which supports academically outstanding College of Liberal Arts undergraduates, allowing them to participate in a UNH-managed study abroad program in the College.