International Relations major senior Sapphire Carter from Box Elder, Montana, was selected by the Student Assistance Foundation, Montana GEAR UP, and TRiO. as one of six exceptional Montana students at the Montana College Access Summit’s Student Achiever's luncheon.
Sapphire was nominated by the GEAR UP liaison with the Rocky Boys Reservation. Sapphire was a GEAR UP student in 2012 from Rocky Boys High School and interned at GEAR UP in Helena while a student at Carroll. GEAR UP is a stakeholder of the Montana College Access Network and partners with 18 middle and receiving high schools from around the state, 13 of which are located on or near Montana’s seven American Indian reservations, to improve high school graduation and college enrollment rates.
In Sapphire’s nomination letter, it was noted that “Sapphire has been a leader in our community and also to our youth. She challenges the rest of the people in her surroundings to consider issues from a new perspective and often asks very probative and important questions. She chooses to take on difficult tasks and handles them very well. It is evident that Sapphire really desires to learn more and challenges herself.”
Sapphire has certainly challenged herself in a variety of ways during her time at Carroll. She was selected as a Public Policy and Leadership Conference Fellow for Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, as well as a Charles Rangel International Affairs Scholar, where she studied coursework in Diplomatic History and Political Economy at Howard University in Washington, D.C. She also served as a youth cabinet member for the National Congress of American Indians. She has traveled and studied abroad extensively, and volunteered in a variety of capacities both in the Helena community and on campus. Her resume of awards, appointments, internships and experiences is deep and accomplished. Sapphire will be graduating in May with a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations. She will then travel to Vietnam where she will be interning for the summer at the United State Embassy in Hanoi under the Cultural Affairs section.
Congratulations Sapphire! We wish you the best luck in all of your future endeavors.