Victoria Davidson Heads to Vienna!

Victoria Davidson 

Honors College junior Victoria Davidson dreamed of a diplomatic career, and she is on her way to achieving that dream! A double major in History and Foreign Languages and Literature with an emphasis in German, Victoria will move to Europe this fall to work as a student intern for the US Embassy in Vienna.
 
To win this job, Victoria competed against other applicants to the US Department of State Student Internship Program, which enables aspiring diplomats to get an inside look at the field and take an active role in diplomacy. This program places students in State Department offices in Washington, D.C., as well as US embassies around the world.
 
“This is absolutely the opportunity of a lifetime, and I am beyond excited to start this journey into diplomacy,” Victoria said. “I’ll be working with the combined Political/Economic Unit at the Embassy, which will give me the chance to learn and be challenged every day. I will take notes at meetings, analyze this information, and then create reports that will be sent to State Department offices in Washington. I will get to dig deep into topics that interest me and develop my own projects. I would like to research the cultural and political history of Austria, looking at the country’s ties to Germany and other German-speaking nations.” 
 
Victoria prepared for this amazing opportunity by working as an intern at the Truman Presidential Library in Independence and by participating in the Honors College Scotland Study Abroad Program in July 2017. She has good advice for other Honors College students who are interested in finding internships outside the US: “It’s definitely a long process, and even now, after I’ve accepted the position, there’s still a lot to be worked out. Once I get security clearance and a visa, everything will be 100% official and things will start to take shape. So keep with it! The process may seem harrowing, but there is so much to be learned from experiences like this.”

Breana Boger Wins UMKC Award

Congratulations to Honors College Academic Advisor Breana Boger for winning a UMKC Student Affairs’ Student Mentor Staff Award! This award recognizes staff members who have “made significant contributions to higher education through exceptional service and keeping with the strategic goals of the University to foster success in our students.”

Bree manages student recruitment and advising in the Honors College, and she has helped increase enrollment from 120 to 400 students since she joined the HC in June 2015. Honors College Dean Jim McKusick said that Bree’s “philosophy in student advising is to ‘advise the whole student,’ seeking first to understand the complex picture of a student’s entire life situation and then using that knowledge to empower each student to solve their own problems and seek excellence in everything they do. She leads by example, always willing to go the extra mile to find solutions and discover pathways to success for every student she advises.”

Indeed, Bree goes the extra mile by acting as a mentor to the Honors Ambassadors program, which she introduced to the HC, and by facilitating a monthly Student Executive Council meeting that encourages student leaders to coordinate plans for their respective groups. Bree also volunteered to rejuvenate and advise Alpha Lambda Delta, UMKC’s first-year honors society. “As a team, we cannot express enough how dedicated, insightful, caring, and inspiring she is to all of her students,” said Honors Ambassadors Felix Amparano, Drew Cox, Jennifer Nguyen, Namana Rao, Victoria Tidwell, and Landon Volkman.

Bree was honored at the 2018 Staff Awards presentation on April 26.

 

 

 

Meet Lachlan Moore

Lachlan is one of the recipient’s of the Linda & Thomas Talbott Scholarship.

Lachlan Moore is a sophomore here at UMKC. He hails from Nixa, Missouri where he attended a small private high school. He’s majoring in Health Sciences, on a pre-med track with future dreams of becoming a doctor so he can have a “positive impact on my future patients.” In his free time he enjoys “sharing” music with his friends and watching cheesy B-List movies. This upcoming summer Lachlan plans to return home and work in a clinic, while also taking summer classes and training for the upcoming cross country season. He loves being apart of the Honors College community and all the opportunities that entails.

Meet Katie Rice

Katie is one of the recipients of the Linda & Thomas Talbott Scholarship.

Katie is from Raymore, Missouri and is currently a freshman pre-pharmacy major at UMKC. She says that she chose this field because she has a passion for medicine and has seen firsthand how much medication can change a person’s life. She hopes to use her career as a way to be a positive part of someone else’s journey. Over the summer Katie plans to take some classes, as well as work and study for the PCAT. In her free time, she enjoys going to the gym and spoiling her cat. Katie says that her favorite thing about being a member of the Honors College is meeting new people and that she has met many of her “best friends through being in the Honors College and I’m incredibly thankful!”