Seven USC undergraduates have been awarded scholarships to study abroad this spring.

Six of the students were awarded Benjamin A. Gilman International scholarships, each worth approximately $4,000. The group is the largest number of USC students to be named Gilman scholars. Another student received a Freeman-ASIA scholarship to study in Japan, a scholarship valued at $5,000.

The students are:

• Kayla Murray, a junior elementary education major from Charleston, Belgrano University, Buenos Aires, Argentina
• Lori Shakespeare, a junior psychology major from Columbia, University of West Indies, Bridgetown, Barbados
• Matthew W. Rhoades (Freeman-ASIA scholar), a junior physics major from Columbia, Kanada University, Tokyo, Japan
• Theo Meryanos, a junior finance and economics major from Conway, Arcadia University, Athens, Greece
• Xai Lor, a junior international business major from Jay, Okla., Monterey Technical College, Guadalajara, Mexico
• Samantha Martin, a junior hotel, restaurant, and tourism major from Lititz, Pa. Intercollege, Nicosia, Cypress
• Hannah Craig, a junior accounting major from Knoxville, Tenn., University of Waikata, New Zealand.

The Gilman and the Freeman-ASIA scholarships offer grants to undergraduate students in the United States who have achieved academically but have limited financial means to pursue academic studies abroad.

During the 2004-05 academic year, more than 400 USC students studied abroad, a 40-percent increase from the previous year. Destinations included Spain, the United Kingdom, Japan, Italy, Australia, and France, as well as South Africa, Czech Republic, Russia, South Korea, Egypt, Hungary, and China.

Among USC's newest study-abroad programs is its Capstone Scholars Abroad Maymester 2006 in England and Ireland and a summer 2006 program in the Dominican Republic.

For more information about study abroad opportunities, go to www.sa.sc.edu/sa/.

2/06