The Hastings branch of the American Association of University Women awarded Sophia Sanchez with the National Conference for College Women Student Leaders (NCCWSL) scholarship. The scholarship was initially intended for her participation in the spring 2020 conference at the University of Maryland, but due to the Covid-19 Pandemic, the conference was cancelled. But we will try again next year! Miss Sanchez agreed to attend the conference in 2021, whether it is held in-person, or virtually.

Miss Sanchez will receive a $1000 award for travel, lodging and participation in the NCCWSL conference to be held May 26-29, 2021 at the University of Maryland. The conference program includes speakers, career and graduate school fairs, leadership building workshops and the Women of Distinction awards. Representatives from more than 100 graduate schools and employers will be at the convention. However, the conference program may be altered if in-person attendance is determined not yet to be safe, and virtual programing may therefore be indicated.

Miss Sanchez plans to graduate from Smith College in Massachusetts in the spring of 2022, and will pursue a career in Government. Her concentration is in International Relations with an emphasis in migration studies. She previously enrolled for an interim project at St. Petersburg, Russia, at the Higher School of Economics. While there Sophia studied culture, politics, gender, history, and Russian. She is fluent in Spanish, has basic skills in Russian, and conversational skills in French and American Sign Language. Miss Sanchez is an Anita Wien Global Studies Scholar.

AAUW is a non-partisan, nonprofit organization with a nationwide network of more than 170,000 members and donors, 1000 branches and 800 college/university members. Would you like to join us? Find more information on our website: https://hastings-mn.aauw.net.