05/05/2026
SUNY Cortland undergraduate Chloe Wirth will immerse herself in the cultural and natural environment of the remote Caribbean island of Dominica this summer, a study abroad opportunity enabled through a prestigious 2026 Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship.
Established by the U.S. Congress and funded by the U.S. Department of State, the merit-based scholarship aims to help students with high financial need study or intern abroad, opening doors to transformative international experiences. Each year, applicants undergo a rigorous and selective review process, making this award especially notable.
Wirth of Endwell, N.Y., a junior childhood and early childhood education major with a political science minor, is the university’s 16th recipient of the $5,000 scholarship since the program was created in 2000 to help prepare college students to thrive in the global economy and to expand the number of Americans studying and interning abroad.
“It’s a significant achievement that recognizes both her academic dedication and her commitment to global learning,” said Daniela Baban Hurrle, director of international programs. “Her selection highlights the strength of SUNY Cortland students and the impact of study abroad opportunities.”
Wirth is only in her second year at Cortland but she will graduate in Spring 2027 due to advanced placement coursework from high school. She will join the class cohort of eight students visiting the small Caribbean island state in the Lesser Antilles from Wednesday, May 20, to Saturday, May 30.
She and her classmates from across SUNY are enrolled in “Development and Resilience in Dominica,” a course led by Jeremy Jiménez, a SUNY Cortland associate professor of foundations and social advocacy.
Jiménez’s 10-day foray assigns the class to view topics in their international experience through the primary lens of sustainability, including early childhood education and teaching; education; environmental studies; international relations and affairs; and sociology.
“I’m really excited to learn about the culture in Dominica,” Wirth said. “With teaching, you’re always going to get kids from different cultures and different backgrounds, and I think being able to be immersed in another culture for 10 whole days is wonderful. It’s not really something a lot of people get to do.”
Jiménez met Wirth last semester in his International Education class.
“It was readily apparent how much she enjoyed learning about other cultures around the world and the effort she put into her studies,” Jiménez said. “As such, it is quite fitting that Chloe was awarded a Gilman scholarship to join our inaugural trip to Dominica.”
Dominica is commonly referred to as the “Nature Isle of the Caribbean,” and due to its rugged topography it has largely avoided much of the over-tourism and development that commonly degrades the environment of many other Caribbean nations. However, in 2017 the island was completely devastated in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria, ravaging farmers’ crops and destroying the habitats sustaining the island’s wildlife.
“Although they had a short period of receiving some international aid, the people of Dominica had to primarily rely on each other to first survive and then work together to rebuild their island,” Jiménez said.
Wirth also will learn about what local schoolteachers value in their education system and broader culture, how farmers build resilience to weather the future hurricanes of a global warming world and how artists communicate what lessons others can learn about Dominica’s resilience, he said.
“Every country is unique in its own way, but what makes Dominica such an amazing place to study sustainability is both how well it has preserved its natural beauty as well as what it can teach us about how to positively respond to natural disasters,” Jiménez said. “Chloe will even have an opportunity to visit some Kalinago elders, who represent one of the only remaining Indigenous communities in the Caribbean with territorial sovereignty.”
“This short program is perfect for education majors and students with an interest in community development and volunteer work,” Baban Hurrle said.
But for a youth who studied French throughout secondary school at the Maine-Endwell School District and always hungered to travel abroad, Wirth never has before, due partly to the cost and more recently the time conflict with her major’s educator practicum requirement. So, she focused on winter break and summer course offerings, applied for the Gilman scholarship and leaped at the opportunity to study under her faculty mentor, Jiménez.
“He’s very well-traveled,” she said. “And he had given me the rundown of the program in class, and I immediately was like, ‘I want to go.’”
Wirth will receive additional study abroad funding from the International Programs Office for the trip. And, she was one of the first participants in SUNY Cortland’s Red Dragons Global Passport Program, through which the International Programs Office covered the cost of her passport.
That helped remove another key barrier for Wirth to studying abroad and supported her journey from the very first step, Baban Hurrle said.
This year, 2,100 Gilman scholars were awarded the support needed for their international scholarship between May 2026 and May 2027, according to the organization’s website. The Gilman Program received over 12,200 applications, the highest number in the program’s 25-year history for any application cycle.
Many Cortland study abroad programs are eligible for Gilman funding. To foster greater numbers of future Gilman scholars, the International Programs Office will host a series of workshops this fall to guide students through the application process ahead of the program’s Oct. 1 deadline for the following academic year.
Students can inquire about study abroad options and the Gilman scholarship by contacting the International Programs Office at [email protected] or 607-753-2209.