College of Charleston undergrad wins Fulbright Scholarship

College of Charleston senior Sara Sprehn is the first undergraduate in the school's history to land a full Fulbright Scholarship.

Sprehn, from Fort Myers, Fla., is a Spanish major who also will earn minors in anthropology and chemistry.

The award will support her graduate study at the Universidad de Ciencias y Artes de Chiapas in southern Mexico. Sprehn will take coursework in public health and nutrition while completing research on the intersection of traditional Mexican foods with the availability of packaged and convenience foods. Eventually, she plans to attend medical school.

The Fulbright program, sponsored by the State Department, is an international exchange program established by Congress in 1946 to increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries. About 1,100 grants are awarded each year, most to graduating college seniors.

Sprehn, who is fluent in Spanish, said her proposal took an interdisciplinary approach to nutrition and public health. That approach is appropriate for the Mexican state of Chiapas, which is mostly rural, she said. Many of the region's residents suffer from malnutrition, and the area's infant mortality rate is high, she said.

She previously spent six months studying the central Mexican state of Guanajuato, she said.

Trisha Folds-Bennett, associate dean of the Honors College, helped Sprehn complete the complex Fulbright application. She's not surprised Sprehn landed the prestigious award. Sprehn is a remarkable student who had a vision and a 4.0 grade-point average, she said.

Officials identified Sprehn as a stellar student in the college application process, Folds- Bennett said. "She has academic vision, intellectual curiosity and writing ability," she said.

Sprehn is a member of the college's William Aiken Fellows Society for top scholars, she said. Only 15 students are selected as members of that group each year.

Sprehn said the Fulbright application process was challenging, and then it took months to learn whether she had landed the scholarship. But her wait ended Tuesday when she found a manila envelope in her mailbox, tore it open and learned her work to pull together the proposal had paid off.

Sprehn's parents are George and Susan Sprehn of Fort Myers, Fla.