Devon Adams ’20 has been selected as the 10th Dickerson Award winner for her devotion to making a difference on a global scale.

The Dickerson Award was established in 2013 to honor the memory of Shanon Dickerson ’96, a member of the first class of Leadership Studies graduates. His passion for international travel and hands-on philanthropy inspired the creation of this competitive scholarship, supporting BSC students who have a strong desire to study abroad.

Twice a year, some of Dickerson’s closest friends, including Andy Armstrong ’97 and Laura Cammack Eanes ’96, meet back on the Hilltop to select a student who shares his ideals of adventure, travel, and service.

Both the attitude and actions of Adams exemplify the type of student the committee looks for – from her servant’s heart to her desire to develop into a global citizen.

In summer of 2018, Adams participated in a service-learning project in Belize focused on the African Diaspora.

With the Dickerson Award, the Birmingham native will travel to Brazil in spring 2020.

“It is close linguistically to a lot of other romantic languages that I find interesting,” Adams says. “I really enjoy the culture and feel like it will be a good fit for me.”

She also has future plans to make a difference in the Birmingham community through her experiences.

Combining the skills she has learned in her Arabic classes, cyber-security internship, and computer science major will allow her to put together a project uniting diverse Birmingham communities. Through a two-week coding camp developed to expose minority communities to future opportunities in STEM fields, she will introduce Python programming to Arabic speaking youth.

Past recipients of the scholarship have studied in locations such as Chile, Ireland, Argentina, the UK, and Morocco.

If you are interested in applying for The Dickerson Award, find all the details here.

To learn more about supporting international study opportunities, contact the Office of Advancement at (205) 226-4909 or [email protected]