PARAMUS, N.J. – Bergen Community College business student Elie Tanous, of Moonachie, has been awarded a U.S. Department of State Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship to study abroad in China during the spring 2016 academic term.
Tanous is one of approximately 800 undergraduate students from 355 colleges and universities across the U.S selected to receive the award, according to the U.S. Department of State. He is the seventh Bergen student to receive the award since 2011.
An international businessman’s son, Tanous worked for his father’s Syrian-based manufacturing company starting at an early age. There, he developed an interest in global business and trade, which he wants to further cultivate while studying at Shanghai University.
“Studying abroad will give me more opportunities and a more accurate approach to business,” he said.
Gilman scholars receive up to $5,000 to apply toward their study abroad or internship program costs. The program, administered by the Institute of International Education, aims to diversify students who study and intern abroad as well as the countries and regions they visit.
Based in Paramus, Bergen Community College (www.bergen.edu), a public two-year coeducational college, enrolls 16,000 students at locations in Paramus, the Philip Ciarco Jr. Learning Center in Hackensack and Bergen Community College at the Meadowlands in Lyndhurst. The College offers associate degree, certificate and continuing education programs in a variety of fields. More students graduate from Bergen than any other community college in the state.
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