Northwest Iowa — Northwest Iowa college students who have international aspirations now have an opportunity to study abroad in any of nine sister states around the globe.
Kim Heidemann, executive director of Iowa Sister States, says they’ve long offered one grant for an Iowa college student to live in Japan for a year, but that’s being expanded nine-fold, thanks to a generous, new scholarship.
The scholarship is available for Iowa students enrolled in colleges and universities in Iowa who are pursuing degrees in international business or agriculture, international relations, language, or culture, including music, art and film. Students taking part in short courses, internships, conferences or symposiums are also eligible to apply for the scholarships.
The deadline to submit an application is February 1st. The program is not limited to students who want to work with a university, she says, as it could be a job opportunity, like an internship.
Iowa has sister states in: Yamanashi Prefecture, Japan; Yucatan, Mexico; Hebei Province, China; Terengganu, Malaysia; Stavropol Krai, Russia; Taiwan; Cherkasy Oblast, Ukraine; Veneto Region, Italy; and Kosovo. The scholarship fund is for $30,000 a year for five years, honoring the memory of Jeff Zimpleman, a Des Moines native who loved to travel and who died of a medical condition while visiting Germany in 2014. He was 36.
For more information, visit www.iowasisterstates.org
