From here to Ghana

After Abby Selden decided she wanted to volunteer in Africa after graduation, she began looking for ways to make that dream a reality.

Selden, a senior journalism major, heard about the Lumos Student Travel Award, a grant awarded to help students volunteer abroad. Cynthia Leu, a member of Belmont’s Board of Trustees, established the award that Selden will use to allow her to serve for three months in the West African country of Ghana.

“I had an initial meeting with Dr. Maggie Monteverde and expressed my interest in the travel award and asked her what it was about,” Selden said.

She got the application from Monteverde, who serves as a professor of English, assistant provost for International Education and Programs Away and executive director of the Cooperative Center for Study Abroad.

“She told me that I needed to find an organization to travel with before I could apply for Lumos,” Selden said, “so I did a lot of research on different organizations I could travel with. I settled on one called Projects Abroad, an organization for people who want to volunteer abroad.”

Monteverde was involved in the selection process for the award. She says the award is ideal for Belmont students, as it aligns with the university’s mission.

“The award really gets at the heart of some of the things Belmont is trying to achieve,” Monteverde said. “It will enable students to participate in an immersion experience in a community and that, in many ways, fits Belmont’s mission of engaging and transforming the world.”

To apply for the Lumos Award, Selden had to meet a variety of standards and was required to have a specific plan in place for what she would be doing abroad. The award may be used to cover transportation, accommodations and other costs.

Selden was required to complete two essays of 500 words each, provide two letters of reference as well as details about her proposed travel, in addition to a breakdown of costs. “It’s a fairly elaborate application process,” Monteverde said.

Ultimately, Selden was chosen as the first recipient of the Lumos Award. “I don’t think we could have asked for a better first winner than Abby,” Monteverde said. “It was immensely helpful to have a student who was such a good researcher.”

However, Selden’s lack of travel experience abroad was an initial concern to the committee that selected her. “There was one aspect of what we were looking for that was not the case with Abby,” Monteverde said. “What we ideally wanted was someone who had already done a study abroad program.”

Although Selden did not meet this qualification, the committee agreed she was prepared to volunteer abroad. “This is a big step for her,” Monteverde said. “But she’d clearly given a lot of thought to it and we were all in agreement that she’s an excellent recipient.”

Selden says she is appreciative of the opportunity she was awarded. “I was incredibly excited when I found out I’d gotten the Lumos Award,” she said. “I just felt so grateful and thankful that they thought that I was deserving and that they trusted me to use what they had given me and really go do something good in the world.”

While she knows she will be serving for three months – from late July to late October – as a volunteer in Ghana, Selden won’t know the specific details of her experience until about a month before she leaves the United States.

“Projects Abroad allows you to choose what category you’ll volunteer under,” Selden said. “You choose what interests you, and so, because of working as a children’s program volunteer at Safe Haven Family Shelter, I knew that I wanted to continue that and I knew that I was interested in the care category, so I’ll either be working at some sort of care center or an orphanage.”

In addition to volunteering, Selden is expected to keep a record of her experience and present that information to interested students when she returns. “I know there has to be a visual component, so I’m sure I’ll take pictures or video,” she said. “I also might keep a blog while I’m there.”

Both Selden and Monteverde agree that the award fills a need for Belmont students. “It’s one of the only awards a graduating senior can receive,” Monteverde said.