A University of Idaho Honors Program student majoring in political science and international affairs has been awarded a prestigious 2024 David L. Boren Scholarship.
The Distinguished Scholarships Program has announced Shane Neirinckx of Coeur d’Alene received the honor. Sponsored by the National Security Education Program, Boren awards provide funding to study less commonly taught languages in world regions critical to U.S. interests and underrepresented in study abroad.
With the Boren Scholarship, Neirinckx will complete a University Studies Abroad Consortium study abroad program at Hiroshima University in Japan, where he will take Japanese language and culture classes. The award will cover up to $25,000 in programmatic costs for the 2024-25 academic year.
Neirinckx came to U of I in Fall 2022 and is also the recent recipient of Dean’s Endowed Award from the College of Letters, Arts and Social Sciences, which enabled him to travel to Hiroshima to conduct research on the history of the post-World War II relationship between U of I and Hiroshima University.
Through long-term overseas study, Boren scholars learn to communicate across cultures and analyze economic, political, religious and societal events from local, national and global perspectives. In exchange for funding, Boren recipients agree to work in qualifying national security positions in the U.S. federal government.