Finance Major Maximas Gomez ’23 Awarded Boren Scholarship

As a Boren Scholar, Gomez will participate in a pre-departure Brazilian Portuguese Language and Culture course; he will then study Portuguese and economics at Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo. He will also participate in an internship at the BRICS Policy Center (BPC), a think tank for socially conscious policy-making and career development in diplomacy.

“I am mostly looking forward to learning Portuguese in Brazil,” says Gomez. “I have always admired Brazilian Tropicália music and think that the language is beautiful, so I am extremely grateful and excited to have the opportunity to both speak the language and experience the culture firsthand.”

Gomez has been a Resident Advisor and has served as Vice President of the Resident Hall Council at MMC. He has also worked as a Red Cross Liaison in his hometown of Santa Fe Springs, California. Post-graduation, he intends to enroll in Georgetown’s Master of Arts in International Economics and to pursue the economic career track of the Foreign Service Office at the US Department of State.

The Boren Scholarship, a subsidiary of the Institute of International Education, provides opportunities for undergraduate students in the US to study less-commonly taught languages in regions underrepresented by study abroad programs. Most Boren Scholars spend one year in South America, Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Southeast Asia, or the Far East. Their education, including travel expenses, is fully funded.

Gomez is MMC’s sixth Boren Scholar and seventh student to be selected as either a Recipient or Alternate for a Boren Scholarship in the past ten years.

All Boren Scholarship candidates are mentored by Prof. Adrienne Baxter Bell. Gomez’ application was enthusiastically supported by Professor Mary Brown, Professor Vandana Rao, and Professor Vinod Changarath. To learn more about Boren Scholarships and other scholarships for study abroad, please visit the External Student Scholarships page.

Congratulations Maximas!

Published: May 06, 2021