North Carolina A&T State University will send nine students to study abroad in the spring semester. Three of them received grants from the Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship Program.

Sophomore Aleesa Carrington and junior Christopher Duncan both received $5,000 and Stephanie Turgeon received $4,000 to travel to their respective destinations for study.

“It’s so important for students at any university in the world to have these international experiences because we are so global, anything you do has global implications,” said Minnie Battle Mayes, director of the Office of International Programs.

Carrington, an accounting and business management major, will travel to the Republic of Cyprus while Turgeon, a civil engineering major, will travel to the Dominican Republic. Economics major, Duncan, will travel to Germany for six months to further his study in economics.

“I'm hoping to gain a better understanding of economics from a European standpoint,” Duncan said.

This is not Duncan’s first time living outside the country. He served in Iraq as a liaison between the Iraqi Army and the U.S. Army. He was also stationed in Germany as a soldier.

“It will be different being in Germany as a civilian. As a soldier stationed in Germany I always had an "American" place to return to every night. In this situation I believe I will be completely immersed in German culture and I am looking forward to that,” Duncan said.

The Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship Program offers grants for U.S. citizen undergraduate students of limited financial means to pursue academic studies abroad. Such international study is intended to better prepare U.S. students to assume significant roles in an increasingly global economy and interdependent world.