For the first time in the history of the University, two students -- seniors Gabriel Mandujano and Harveen Bal -- have been declared winners of the Marshall Scholarship. In the past, at most one student from Penn has been awarded the honor per year.
The scholarship, granted to 40 students nationally, awards two paid years of graduate study at any British college or university and can be extended to a third year in certain cases. Candidates must attain a grade point average of at least 3.7 and exhibit intellectual distinction, leadership qualities and the potential to promote British-American understanding. It was established in 1947 by Gen. George Marshall.
Arthur Casciato of the Center for Undergraduate Research and Fellowships noted that the Marshall is "a very prestigious award, second only to the Rhodes" Scholarship.
Mandujano, a Huntsman Program student who is majoring in urban studies and real estate, plans to use his scholarship toward advanced degrees in Latin American government and politics at Essex University and housing policy at the London School of Economics.
"I'm really excited about it," Mandujano said. "I mean, how could you not be?"
Bal, a health and societies major, plans to pursue her Master of Philosophy degree in development studies at Oxford University. She said that she was "amazed" to receive such an award. "It's unbelievable. I'm so excited and happy."
Bal is also a candidate for the Rhodes Scholarship.
Marshall Scholarships are awarded to 40 students -- five students from each of eight regions in the United States.
Winners from each region are selected from pools of 20 semifinalists. This year, Penn boasted four semifinalists in the New York region alone.
This was the first time in the history of the Marshall that one school had four students from the same region compete in the final interview round.
Penn had seven semifinalists in all, including two from the D.C. region and one from Houston.
Over the past five years, there has been an increase in the number of Penn students competing for and receiving this award.
Casciato attributed this rise to the creation of CURF four years ago and its efforts to encourage qualified students to apply for these types of prestigious awards and scholarships.
"We focus on recruitment, rather than training," Casciato said. "If we get more of the appropriate students to apply, it will happen naturally."
Both Marshall winners said that CURF employees were supportive, helping them gather the necessary recommendations and paperwork to apply and preparing them for the final interview.
"Everybody was really helpful," Mandujano said.
Mandujano noted that the Center for Community Partnerships and the Huntsman Program in International Studies and Business -- as well as his mentors, Associate Vice President and Director of the Center for Community Partnerships Ira Harkavy and History professor emeritus Lee Benson -- were invaluable in leading him to his present success.
But the majority of Mandujano and Bal's achievements can be attributed to the students themselves.
"The lion's share of the credit goes, of course, to Harveen and Gabe ... but there is a large team of people at the University who support and encourage them," Casciato said. "This team includes the professors who took the time to write the recommendations ... and other members of our team who gave practice interviews to all seven of our Marshall" semifinalists.
While two winners from Penn have been declared so far, winners from some regions have not yet been announced.
In addition, if any recipients decline the award, Marshall Scholarship officials choose alternate winners.
