Ole Miss Continues Boren Scholarship Success with Six New Awardees

The scholarship recipients have been offered funding to study languages abroad in areas that are critical to United States security including Africa, Asia, central and eastern Europe, Eurasia, Latin America and the Middle East.

Additionally, they agree to employ their acquired skills with the federal government by seeking employment in and strengthening U.S. national security.

"Our Boren Scholars continue a remarkable tradition at the University of Mississippi, bringing our total to 66 awardees, with 33 of them in just the past five years," said Vivian Ibrahim, associate professor of history and Office of National Scholarship Advisement director. "That success really speaks to the drive of our students and the sustained effort behind each application.

"It also demonstrates the quality of our Arabic Language Flagship and Chinese Language Flagship programs."

This year's recipients are:

• John Henry Amburgy, a recent graduate in international studies and Chinese from Ocean Springs
• Jackelyn Facio, a recent graduate from Pascagoula with a degree in public policy leadership and Arabic
• Mikayla Kazmierkoski, a junior Chinese and finance major from Minnetonka, Minnesota
• Lily Schauwecker, an international studies and Arabic recent graduate from Starkville
• Leah Siemon, a junior from Bloomington, Indiana, majoring in international studies and Chinese
• Carlos Tinajero, a recent graduate with Chinese and political science degrees from San Antonio, Texas.

"Receiving the Boren Scholarship means a lot to me because it represents not only academic support, but also trust in my future goals and potential," said Siemon, who plans to study advanced Chinese in Taiwan. "I am very grateful for the opportunity and excited to continue growing both personally and professionally through this experience."

Siemon is interested in future careers involving language, international engagement and helping build mutual understanding between communities and countries.

"As someone interested in international relations and public diplomacy, I saw the scholarship as a meaningful opportunity to connect language learning with long-term public service goals," she said.

Kazmierskoski plans to study Mandarin Chinese in Taipei and is entertaining the possibility of ultimately combining her majors of finance and Chinese into a career.

"I am interested in public service and hope to apply my language skills to support positive U.S.-Taiwan and U.S.-China financial relations," she said. "Aside from public service, I am also drawn to the idea of working in banking and hope to gain valuable experience abroad interning at an overseas bank."

The Boren Scholarship will allow Tinajero to study Mandarin Chinese and international politics at National Chengchi University in Taiwan.

"Mandarin Chinese is such a beautifully, complex language that currently possesses strong international business and cultural importance," he said. "Being able to speak the language can help strengthen the ties between many important industries and governments that shape the landscape of our present and future world."

He hopes to use his skills to make a difference.

"I hope to use my language skills to build connections between people, businesses and communities that currently have no open lines of communication but are ultimately in desperate need of dialogue," Tinajero said.

"Globalization is shaping the world in an unprecedented way, and using both what I learned at Ole Miss and what I will learn through this experience will hopefully prepare me to apply my background in a professional field that celebrates intercultural cooperation."

The Boren Scholarships present a world of opportunities for Ole Miss students, Ibrahim said.

"It's genuinely exciting to see how they connect language study with pressing national security challenges," she said. "As someone who cares deeply about global engagement, it's incredibly rewarding to watch these students grow into candidates who are not only competitive but truly prepared to step into federal service and make a difference."

Top: The university's 2026 recipients of prestigious Boren Awards for International Study are (top, from left) John Henry Amburgy, Jackelyn Facio and Mikayla Kazmierkoski, and (bottom, from left) Lily Schauwecker, Leah Siemon and Carlos Tinajero. The scholarship recipients have been offered funding to study languages abroad in areas that are critical to United States security. Submitted photos