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April 15, 2005 > News > Halsey, Bakalyar earn Envision Grants for overseas projects

Halsey, Bakalyar earn Envision Grants for overseas projects

By Stephanie Jennings | Thresher staff

In the final round of Envision Grants for the academic year, Baker College senior Annie Halsey and music graduate student Elizabeth Bakalyar received awards totaling more than $4,000. Four projects — two from each of the two previous rounds — have already received Envision Grants this year.Four applications were submitted for the third round of grants. Halsey received $1,750 to work at a hospital in a rural area near Kumasi, Ghana through a program called Experiential Learning International.

Bakalyar received $2,500 to create an after-school arts program and library in Pavas, Costa Rica, a small Nicaraguan immigrant community.

Leadership Rice Assistant Director Natalia Ksiezyk said the Envision Grant committee chose Bakalyar’s and Halsey’s projects because they had well-developed proposals.

A committee composed of undergraduates, faculty members and Student Affairs staff members selects the winners.

‘The other two proposals were good ideas, but they just weren’t completely thought out,’ Ksiezyk said. ‘This is typical, because students don’t put themselves in the shoes of the committee members. The proposal makes sense to them because they’re heavily involved with the projects, but it doesn’t always come out so clearly to those who are not.’

Halsey’s grant will cover her immunizations, visa, and room and board, as well as the program costs. Halsey will pay for her own airfare to Ghana.

Halsey has volunteered at Ben Taub Hospital and at a hospital in Wilmington, Del. She has also volunteered with Medical Bridges, a Houston organization that distributes donated medical supplies to developing nations, and she has shadowed doctors on their rounds.

Halsey said she will be working primarily with patients and children who have AIDS.

‘I will probably just start out following doctors around, helping with whatever they need, putting together health education programs, and producing handouts for visitors about diseases such as malaria and yellow fever,’ Halsey said.

Halsey will begin her project June 6 and stay in Ghana four weeks.

Bakalyar said she was inspired to start the after-school program after reading Jonathan Kozol’s Amazing Grace: The Lives of Children and the Conscience of a Nation, a book about disadvantaged children in a South Bronx neighborhood.

Bakalyar’s program will provide a place for students aged 3-15 to do homework after school. Younger children will participate in music exploration programs, and older children will take music lessons, create artwork and participate in drama programs.

Bakalyar said she also plans to help older students pass the English proficiency exam, a high school graduation requirement.

‘[The exam is] one of the biggest barriers for students,’ Bakalyar said. ‘People often drop out of high school and end up getting diplomas … when they’re 30.’

Bakalyar said she would also like Rice Engineers Without Borders and students studying abroad in Costa Rica to help the community maintain the program.

‘If I can get the community to take over the program, I can come back to the [United States] and start [another] one up,’ she said. ‘I think there are a lot of communities in the States that could use such programs.’

Bakalyar plans to leave for Costa Rica June 16 and return in the summer of 2006.

Envision Grants ranging from $200-$2,500 are awarded each year to students to fund projects on and off campus. Since its founding in 1995, the Envision program has funded more than 100 projects.

Past grants have subsidized the founding of the Coffeehouse, Lovett Undergrounds and Dance Marathon — a fundraiser for Memorial Hermann Children’s Hospital.

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