For Morgan King, the first weekend in November this year will be one to remember. She will fly back to the United States from Spain where she is on a Fulbright Scholarship to interview with the British Marshall scholarship committee in Washington, D.C., and then travel to New York to interview with the Schwarzman Scholarship committee.
Both scholarships are highly competitive and being named a finalist for both speaks to all that King achieved while an Honors College undergraduate student at West Virginia University. The Charleston native graduated in May with a degree in civil engineering from the Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources. She was involved in Engineers Without Borders where she led several trips to Prenter, a small southern West Virginia community without water, to collect data which was shared with the state. The community should receive water within a year.
King also landed coveted Foreign Service internships where she worked with the Office of Water Conservation one summer and in the Economic Section of the U.S. Embassy in Madrid, Spain the next. She was also a member of the winning team in the Schuman Challenge, a national foreign policy contest.
“Though her resume is diverse, a dominant thread is her sincere passion for water equality and bringing a more technical perspective to public policy,” said Amy Cyphert, director of ASPIRE.“Morgan is a natural leader who is already having an impact on the issues she cares about.”
The Marshall Scholarship, which is funded by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office of the United Kingdom, would enable her to pursue two master’s degrees in environmental systems engineering and public administration in science, engineering and public policy at the University College London.
“Morgan’s commitment to making the world a better place arises not only from her studies in the humanities, social sciences and STEM, but also from her deep connection to her fellow human beings,” said Lisa Di Bartolomeo, Marshall Scholarship faculty advisor. “She is exactly the kind of person we want representing WVU and her home state of West Virginia, as well as the United States.”
The Schwarzman Scholarship, often called the “Rhodes of China” is a one-year master’s program at Tsinghua University in Beijing—one of China’s most prestigious universities. If she is awarded this scholarship, she will pursue a master’s degree in global affairs with a concentration in public policy.
“West Virginia University has prepared me academically and professionally for life after graduation,” King said. “I am so grateful for the opportunity to take classes across different colleges and fields to diversify my educational and academic experiences which contributed to all of the success I have had.”
The ASPIRE Office prepares students who want to compete for nationally competitive scholarships like these.
Originally from Amy Cyphert for WVU Today.