Tom Samford, pictured with family friends, will spend the next month studying art history in Italy.

While other ACC students enjoy the first few weeks of summer or head back to the classroom, Tom Samford will be exploring a new country.

Samford is spending the next month in Italy as part of the Benjamin A. Gilman Internal Scholarship Program, sponsored by the U.S. Department of State Bureau of Educational & Cultural Affairs. The program provides awards to undergraduate Pell Grant recipients to study abroad.

Through June 29, Samford will take classes and explore Florence and Rome as part of an ACC Study Abroad program. Samford’s group, led by Associate Professor Roberta Weston, is focused on studying art history in Italy.

“I’ve never left the United States, and I’m excited to experience a different culture,” Samford says. “I’m especially looking forward to spending time in Florence, as there is history all around the city and there’s nothing like it in the world.”

Samford enrolled at ACC in 2011 as a history major. However, after taking a European history class and learning about Renaissance art, Samford switched majors to art history.

“I feel very fortunate to be at ACC,” says Samford, who plans to graduate this fall. “They offer all the services and resources you need, and they will do anything to help you succeed.”

William Hayden, director of ACC International Programs, says Samford’s experience is an example that international education is a realistic goal for community college students.

“The Gilman Scholarship program helps create study abroad opportunities for ACC students, and studying abroad will impact their lives in many positive ways,” Hayden says.

Click here to learn more about the Gilman Scholarship. For more information on ACC Study Abroad programs, visit austincc.edu/intstudy.

ACC student Benjamin Chebaa, an Arabic major, was recently awarded another U.S. Department of State scholarship to study the language in Oman this summer. Read more.