Bryanna Barnett
PRAIRIE VIEW, Texas (January 8, 2020) – Prairie View A&M University senior Bryanna Barnett, a finance major from Plano, Texas, is a recipient of the Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship. The scholarship, which is a congressionally funded program of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the U.S. Department of State, enables students with financial constraints to study or intern abroad.
Recently, the Gilman Scholarship paid for Barnett’s five-week intensive study abroad experience as a TAVtech Fellow in Israel, Dec. 22, 2019-Jan. 19, 2020.
“This year, I am really vested in trying to get new experiences. I am a finance major, but I heard about this amazing program in Tel Aviv that is about technology,” Barnett said. “That is something I have an interest in. So, when a friend recommended it to me, I applied,” the Jamaican-Kenyan American, said about applying to TAVtech.
Although Barnett had often visited her mother’s family in Kenya, she had never studied abroad. So, she sought advice and direction from the PVAMU Office of International Programs.
“They encouraged me to apply for scholarships, and they walked me through the process of how I could do this efficiently, both on a physical, academic, emotional, and financial level,” said the former PVAMU Track & Field team member.
The Gilman Scholarship is named after late Congressman Benjamin A. Gilman of New York. He helped establish the International Academic Opportunity Act of 2000, which was renamed after him in 2002 when he retired from 30 years of serving in the House of Representatives, where he chaired the House Foreign Relations Committee.
Barnett said in the fall semester of 2019, “When Gilman emailed me saying that I was accepted, it was so amazing!”
While her father, Oneal Barnett, had mixed emotions about not having his only child home for Christmas with him in Texas, or with her mother in Florida, both parents are pleased with their daughter’s academic experience at PVAMU.
“As a parent, that is your initial fear…is she going to be OK when she goes to school? She’s never been away from home for more than two weeks,” Oneal Barnett shared.
However, he indicated he had confidence in his daughter.
“I’m definitely not surprised. My daughter is a go-getter,” he said proudly. “She’s pretty focused on what she wants to accomplish, in terms of finance and merging the technology aspect to her business and her learning before she graduates.”
Oneal Barnett said Bryanna has gained so much exposure while attending Prairie View, from the investment clubs to conference experiences. He said she has always consulted her parents and mentors before deciding on opportunities.
“This summer, she interned for Google in Austin. She actually got a job offer from Google full-time after school,” he said. “The exposure has been nonstop. Every month, she’s traveling somewhere,” he said with resolve about her spending time as a fellow in Tel Aviv.
Bryanna Barnett said her family understands she wanted to explore as many opportunities as possible while a student. The Gilman Scholarship is one of them.
“My family has been supportive, even if they’re going to miss me, they have definitely been supportive,” she said from the airport before her overseas flight.
Bryanna has PVAMU support while in Israel. Two other Panthers were accepted into the 2020 TAVtech group: Britny Clayton-Mitchell, a fellow finance major, from Austin, Texas, and Olumide Longe, a chemical engineering student from Lagos, Nigeria.
“This is significant because they only selected 80 students from around the world, and we were competing against other big institutions,” Barnett said. “They have nine to ten HBCU students. But, the fact that three students from the same institution all got in at the same time? Only Prairie View! I was like, ‘Look at us!’”
PVAMU TavTech Fellows, left to right: Olumide Longe, Bryanna Barnett, and Britny Clayton-Mitchell.
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By Michael Douglas