It was a Tuesday evening in late April when Sara Sprehn ’11 opened the letter that would make her a first at the College.
She pored over its contents again and again to make sure she was reading it correctly. When she called her family that night, her mother even made her read the letter out loud to verify what it said. For the next few hours, Sprehn, an Honors College student, held the letter close to her, fearing – she laughs now – that it might magically disappear if she let go.
Even if the letter had mysteriously vanished that night, its message would not have changed: Sprehn had received a Fulbright Scholarship to study in Chiapas, Mexico. No small achievement for any student, but one of historic significance at the College: Sprehn is its first undergraduate to receive such an honor.
The Hispanic studies major, with minors in chemistry and anthropology, will travel to southern Mexico this fall for a two-year graduate school experience to study nutrition among its indigenous population, especially as more people choose to eat packaged and convenience foods in this developing region.
“Perhaps my research may inspire some people to look at their diets,” observes Sprehn, herself a food-conscious eater. “Nutrition is the foundation of health care, and I think we’ll find that food is really the solution to a lot of our society’s problems.”
