Rebecca Sobolik
Lee University’s Rebecca Sobolik has received the Gilman Scholarship, a national highly competitive scholarship aimed at enabling students to gain proficiency in diverse languages and cultures through study abroad.
Ms. Sobolik, a freshman music and worship major from Washington D.C., is using the scholarship to help fund her summer trip to France with Ladies of Lee, a vocal ensemble at the university.
“I was struggling to figure out how to find the funds for my Global Perspective’s trip to Paris and was praying for a financial miracle,” said Ms. Sobolik. “God answered my prayer through this scholarship.”
Ms. Sobolik will travel with the vocal ensemble Ladies of Lee this June throughout Paris, France. In addition to performing at L’église de la Madeleine while there, students will visit places such as Notre Dame, the Louvre and the Eiffel Tower.
“I am excited about the trip overall and seeing all the beautiful historical sites of Paris, but what I am most looking forward to is singing alongside the Ladies of Lee and other world-class choirs,” said Ms. Sobolik. “This will definitely be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and I cannot wait to see what this adventure holds.”
After Lee, Ms. Sobolik plans to pursue full-time ministry with hopes to become a worship pastor.
Three other Lee University students have received the Gilman Scholarship. Amanda Weidlick was a recipient in 2023 and used the funds to travel to Taiwan, where she continued her studies in Mandarin. Rebecca Campbell and Melinda Faught were the 2022 recipients. Ms. Campbell used the scholarship to travel to the United Kingdom, and Ms. Faught used the scholarship to go on the business trip to Italy.
The U.S. Department of State’s Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship Program enables students of limited financial means to study or intern abroad. This is a congressionally funded program of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the U.S. Department of State and named after the late congressman Benjamin A. Gilman from New York. The mission of the Gilman Program is to help young Americans gain the professional skills and knowledge of the world needed for successful careers, to develop a generation of future American leaders who represent the rich diversity of the nation, and to broaden the destinations where U.S. students study and intern abroad in order to build relationships and understanding in different countries.
For more information about the Gilman Scholarship, visit https://www.gilmanscholarship.org/.
The goal of Lee University’s Global Perspective program is to help raise students’ awareness of increasing interdependence of the world and to emphasize that every human being has a potential for making a significant contribution to the kingdom of God. It is a goal of the cross-cultural requirements to foster in students a respect for the diversity of perspectives represented in the world community, to help students articulate an understanding of their own Christian values, and to show how these relate to another cultural perspective.
For more information about Global Perspectives visit https://globalperspectives.leeuniversity.edu, email gperspectives@leeuniversity.edu, or call 614-8357.