This past summer Sarah Crosley, senior Classics and English major, had the opportunity to use her Hall Grant to spend her three weeks in Romania. During her time abroad, Crosley volunteered with a group of students who learned, practiced and applied basic archaeological skills used by professionals in their field.

For her time in Romania, Crosley and her volunteer group worked on two different sites. The first was located in Simeleu, Romania and dated back to 100 CE. This site was a “rescue excavation” which means that before construction can begin on a known archaeological site, archaeologists have to be brought in to dig before anything can be built. During her time on this site, Crosley learned how to utilize her time and move quickly–as well as how to use a pick axe.

The second site was located in Alba Iulia, Romania. This was one that people would typically imagine when they picture an archeology site. Here she moved much more slowly when working and learned how to date and label what she found. One of the most interesting things she found was a piece of human jaw bone dating back 7,000 years.

In addition to her Hall Grant, Crosley received a scholarship from Phi Sigma Iota, the international language honor society. She used this to learn Romanian before her trip and practice it while abroad. Hall Grants are provided by the Hall Family Foundation and are awarded to only five Jewell students a year. They aim to help students with summer programs that Jewell does not offer, so receiving this grant was a great opportunity.

When she was not working on sites, Crosley enjoyed her free time by roaming the cities of Romania, trying the local cuisine and spending time with the other student volunteers. One of her favorite memories is when she traveled to Bran Castle located in Brasov, which is known for one of its most famous residents: Count Dracula.

During her time abroad, Crosley was able to work on real life archaeology sites and practice skills used by professional archaeologists. She admits that studying abroad was much different than she thought it was going to be. Her time abroad taught her to stay relaxed and roll with whatever was thrown her way. As a whole, Crosley met amazing people from all over the country and was provided with opportunities and skills that cannot be replaced.

Every year the Hall Family Foundation’s Summer Academic Enrichment Program awards grants of up to $5000 to five Jewell students. This financial support allows the students to pursue academic interests that are not available on Jewell’s campus.

“We talk a lot about the journeys that our students experience during their time at Jewell,” said President David Sallee. “In some cases, especially during the summer months, these experiences involve traveling to areas far beyond the Hill to engage in the world community. The Hall Family Foundation’s Summer Academic Enrichment Program makes this possible for a number of Jewell students.”

To apply for a Hall Grant, students must go through a thorough and competitive application process. Most students found out about the programs they pursued through independent research prior to applying. The students awarded with the grant this year are Sarah Crosley, Bruce Rash, Michaela Ousnamer, Michael Rawat and Grace Smith.

Sarah Crosley is a junior English and classics major. She will use her Hall Grant in conjunction wither her Journey Grant to work with Projects Abroad in Romania. During the program, Crosley will participate in an archeological dig and take a rigorous course in the Romanian language. Once she is assigned to an archeology site, she will spend two weeks living with a host family and practice archeology with professionals on-site. Crosley’s project will benefit her study of Classics and Latin.

“Everything that I study now was once discovered by someone else. Without artifacts and the people who dig them up, I would have nothing to study,” said Crosley.

For students who wish to apply for a Hall Grant in the future, Crosley suggested starting early.

“If you are thinking about applying, give yourself as much time as possible. Spending one to two weeks on it might not be enough. I would also encourage you to have as much faculty support as possible,” Crosley said.

Bruce Rash is a sophomore international relations, French and Japanese studies major. He will use his Hall Grant to work in Japan, where he will interview students in different cities about local and international political issues.

“Postwar Japan is almost a completely different culture than prewar Japan; people’s priorities are different, and that shows. The goal is to probe the emerging generation on their views on these issues as they will have an outlook that is, in all likelihood, very different than that of Japan’s mainstream political views,” Rash said.

After this project, Rash will enroll in an eight week language workshop with the help of a Critical Language scholarship he received through the U.S. State Department.

Rash is looking forward to the opportunity to study abroad.

“I’ve never left the country. The chance to be able to do something like this, even though I wasn’t born into a particular set of good fortunes, is just incredible. I’m so grateful that I will finally be able to experience the world I’ve studied and read about for so long.”

Michaela Ousanamer is a junior Oxbridge literature and theory major. She will take a two week course over the summer at the Paris College of Art called “Food and Café Culture in Paris:  The Artist’s Book.” Upon completion of the program, Ousnamer will be able to create her own artist’s book that will be printed and bound professionally.

“The reason that I chose this course is because it deals specifically with the creation of an artist’s book and the intersection of word and image, which is the subject of my extracurricular studies at Jewell” said Ousanamer.

Ousanamer also had advice for students hoping to apply for Hall Grants in the future.

“Find something that you’re passionate about and keep trying to make something work because eventually someone will take a chance on you, and you’ll get opportunities you’ve never dreamed of before. If someone told me that I’d be getting paid to do art in Paris a year ago, I don’t think I would have believed them,” she said.

Michael Rawat is a physics, math and ACT-In major. He will work with the Juvenile Justice Center in Maverick County, TX by helping them build an earth rock compressor. This will aid the community in the construction of its first building.

“After hearing about the program and the juvenile justice system, I was thrilled to help out in any way I could,” said Rawat.

Grace Smith is a junior political science and international relations major. She will enroll in the Attendance at the Fund for American Studies (TFAS) Institute on Comparative Political Economic System (ICPES) in Washington D.C. During the program she will live on the George Washington University campus and attend classes at George Mason University.

“In general, this experience will give me the opportunity to gain real world knowledge and a more sophisticated perspective on public policy and the political process.” said Smith.

All five students will be abroad during the summer of 2015. Applications for the Hall Grant are due in early February every year.

More information about the grant can be found here: