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Music and anthropology major, Birdie Hadfield '24, became the first Lycoming College student to win a Fund for Education Abroad Scholarship (FEA) and full tuition scholarships to study ethnomusicology in Ireland.
FEA provides scholarships and ongoing support to students who are underrepresented among the U.S. study abroad population. Hadfield will travel abroad in the Spring semester of 2023 to study at the University College Cork in Cork, Ireland.
As a Violinist for the past nine years and avid musician, Hadfield became fascinated with ethnomusicology, the study of music in its social and cultural contexts, after taking cultural anthropology during her first semester at Lycoming. "UCC has a thriving ethnomusicology program. As you'd probably imagine, very few schools worldwide have a program in ethnomusicology, particularly one that is accessible to an undergraduate," she said.
In combination with her previous interest in music and her first semester experience at Lycoming, she knew she wanted to be a double major and pursue ethnomusicology, with aspirations to learn at a higher level like graduate school. "I was inspired by my anthropology classes to pursue ethnomusicology with the hopes of one day being able to teach it to other passionate students."
Hadfield is excited to venture outside of her comfort zone and leave the United States for the first time. In the upcoming months she will be working closely with the Center for Enhanced Academic Experiences and the faculty in the music and anthropology departments at Lycoming to prepare for her experience at an international university and looks forward to making connections with UCC Professors while there.