Natasha Labbé ’10 is one of 21 UMass Amherst students who received federal awards this year to fund study abroad. She spent the fall of 2009 in Rome.
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When in Rome...
Classics major wins federal award to study in the imperial city
Coming to campus already well versed in Latin, Classics major Natasha Labbé ’10 breezed through her undergraduate courses including an intensive two semesters of Ancient Greek. This past fall she crowned her study of the classics with a semester abroad in Rome. “It’s the ultimate way of enhancing my classical education—to be in Rome where I can say, ‘Oh, that’s what Caesar was talking about.’”
Labbé, who grew up in Boston and is also majoring in communication, won a Benjamin A. Gilman International Study Scholarship that helped underwrite the expensive study abroad experience. She was one of seven UMass Amherst students out of 850 in the nation who received a Gilman award ranging from $3,500 to $8,000. For the spring 2010 semester, 14 more students received awards, ranking UMass Amherst the fourth institution in the country for receiving the congressionally funded scholarships. The competitive program started in 2001 to support students with large financial need and give priority both to students with nontraditional study abroad destinations and to students from diverse ethnic backgrounds. Through the program, UMass Amherst students will study in Australia, Chile, Denmark, Egypt, Ghana, Hong Kong, Italy, South Africa, Spain, Tanzania, and the United Kingdom.
In Rome, Labbé enrolled in a variety of courses, and visited major archaeological sites and museums with the faculty in her program. “It put my classical studies into context,” she says.
Labbé is a first-generation college student who grew up in a single-parent household with two brothers. Labbé says taking advantage of a study abroad experience and receiving a UMass Amherst degree in May are milestones for her family. “I believe I’ve set a standard for my little brothers,” says Labbé, “and have shown them that with hard work and perseverance and a bit of help along the way, they can achieve whatever they want.”