Good fortune sends 2 students to Belgium on scholarships

Nancy Morris Cook
Thanks to some good fortune and a professor who cares, two LSUS students will spend a month this summer in Belgium learning about French culture.

Encouraged by Dr. Megan Conway, professor of French, Ania Swiergiel and Quinton Bell applied for and were awarded scholarships through the CODOFIL (Council for the Development of French in Louisiana) program.

The mission of CODOFIL is to keep Louisiana’s French heritage alive by promoting its language and culture. Twenty scholarships were available to qualifying professors as well as students.

Swiergiel, a junior math and anthropology major, received one of the 20 scholarships, while Bell, a junior history major, received CODOFIL’s Prix de Richelieu.

Bell’s prize will fund his stay with a Belgium family for nearly a month, and includes trips to Luxembourg, Paris and Waterloo, while Swiergiel’s scholarship will pay full tuition, room, board and cultural excursions for a one-month summer French immersion course in July at the University of Mons in Mons, Belgium.

Thrilled about the opportunity to study abroad, the students give most of the credit to Conway. Bell sited Conway’s “extreme determination in pushing her students toward these great opportunities,” along with her instruction, while Swiergiel said the professor went “far above and beyond her ‘call of duty.’”

“I could write a whole paper about what an incredible person and professor Dr. Conway is,” she said, adding, “without (Conway), none of it could have happened. She inspired, prodded, pulled strings, extended deadlines and just generally weaved her magic to make the impossible happen.”

The students learned of the opportunity only days before the deadline to apply. But, they were able to get the required documents together, one of which was a paper on how they planned to use the experience to further French culture and the French language in Louisiana. A paper written in French.

The paperwork finally was completed – with a half-hour to spare before the post office closed on deadline day. “I won’t recount Quinton’s and my mad dash – it’s all a blur,” Swiergiel joked.

The students then began the most difficult time of any process – the wait.

It was only when their letters arrived that they could exhale. Or, sigh would be a better word. They were rejected. Both of them. Thanks, but no thanks. You didn’t make the cut, buddy. Try again next year.

Oh, well.

But then, two weeks later, Swiergiel was notified her rejection was all a big mistake, there had been a miscount on the number of places.

Meanwhile, Conway called Bell, who is a former president of the International Club, to her office and informed him that, although he had not received the scholarship for which he applied, he had been awarded the Prix de Richelieu and thus would be going to Belgium after all.

The most exciting thing to Swiergiel, a native of Warsaw, Poland who moved to the U.S. when she was 9 and is now a citizen, is how generous students and faculty pulled together to help her trip happen. She said because the scholarship didn’t include airfare, she was considering turning it down for lack of funds. Within days, however, “an enormous portion of my ticket” was paid for by donations from several students and faculty, some of whom she barely knew.

“I guess it makes perfect sense why I feel like I’m taking this trip with the whole department,” Swiergiel said.

“Believe me,” Conway said, “it is students like Ania and Quinton who make teaching a worthwhile career. It is wonderful to see them suddenly take fire and get excited about learning another language.”

Conway said both students have worked hard for the honors, and “I am thrilled to see their efforts rewarded. I hope when they return they will be an inspiration to other LSUS students.”

(Nancy Morris Cook works for the dean of the LSUS College of Education and Human Development, and is a Forum News columnist. She may be contacted at ncook@lsus.edu.)