Freshman political science and international affairs major Emily Hwang was recognized as a global scholar with her win of the Rustic Pathways Global Perspectives Scholarship.
The Global Perspectives Scholarship is awarded to six university students around the globe who have expressed deep global engagement and academic excellence. In 2023, Rustic Pathways received over 4,000 submissions for the scholarship.
“I saw it on the UGA scholarship universe, titled the Global Perspective Scholarship, and I thought that was perfect for me, given my interest in international affairs and studying abroad,” Hwang said.
Students interested in applying for the scholarship must submit a written statement about a unique summer experience and then a video to further elaborate on the essay topic, if accepted to the final round.
“I just started my essay as early as I could, and revised it and looked through everything and hoped that I would make it to the second round,” Hwang said.”After I was called in for the interview round, I told my roommate about it and we celebrated.”
When completing the application process, Hwang wrote about the internship she completed in Germany during the summer after her junior year of high school.
“I’m really grateful for my host family that I stayed within Germany,” Hwang said. “It was such a great experience and they really helped me out. I was immersed in the culture and they taught me so many little things about Germany … they’re so sweet to have taken me in, so I guess I would just say that I’m really thankful for them because I definitely couldn’t have done any of that.”
Emily Hwang poses for a portrait outside of Baldwin Hall in Athens, Georgia, on Tuesday, March 12, 2024. (Photo/Jessica Lin; @j.lin321_media)
In addition to the Global Perspectives Scholarship, Hwang has also received many other scholarships due to her academic achievements, including the Zell B. Miller Scholarship, which covers basic tuition.
“I got the Peachtree Orthopedic Scholarship, the Touchdown Scholarship from the college football Touchdown Club of Atlanta, so that along with Global Perspectives Scholarship really helped out,” Hwang said. “I just wanted to help my parents as much as I possibly could to ease the burden a little bit … because I have two younger siblings so I know that there isn’t a lot of space between me and my sister going off to college.”
Political science professor Jeremy Kingston Cynamon has taught Hwang during both of her semesters at UGA so far. Cynamon described Hwang as a “very organized, very prepared” student and reflected on how she attended his office hours during the first week class.
“[She’s] very willing to participate in class discussions, but also respectful and knows when to listen to her colleagues,” Cynamon said.
Of the two UGA students who received the Global Perspectives Scholarship in 2023, Hwang was the only first-year.
“It was honestly such an honor,” Hwang said. “Coming into college, I was like ‘all these people are so brilliant, so smart, they worked just as hard as I did in high school,’ and so being able to receive that scholarship was validating in a sense, and it was like ‘okay, you deserve to be here and you’re good enough.’”
