September 25, 2002

Svitlana Gorbova Receives Courtney Scholarship
at La Salle University

"I've always dreamed of being a diplomat. I want to make the world a better place to live in," says Svitlana Gorbova, a Philadelphia student attending La Salle University. As the recipient of this year's Courtney Scholarship, an award given to a senior political science major, Gorbova is on her way to making her goal a reality.

As the new editor of La Salle' Student Political Awareness Magazine (La SPAM), Gorbova put the magazine back into circulation last spring after it had not been published for several semesters.

This past summer, Gorbova interned in the press office at the Embassy of the Republic of Cyprus in Washington D.C, where she edited and proofread the embassy's newsletter, cataloged English publications and assisted with official visits of dignitaries from Cyprus. She also did a research project on Cyprus' accession to the European Union.

After her internship, Gorbova attended Middlebury College in Vermont study German. During her time there, she was not allowed to speak anything but German.

"She revived the German Club and even taught a few classes for me last week," said Dr. Bernard Blumenthal, Chairman of La Salle's Foreign Languages Department. "She is just an extraordinary talent whose life and career will certainly be a credit to those of us who had an opportunity to work with her in these formative years. "

When Gorbova began her senior year at Northeast High School, she only knew British English, which differs from "American" English in accent and vocabulary. After only a year, she was able to adapt to the differences and is now fluent in English, as well as Russian, Ukrainian, and German. Gorbova will graduate in only three years at La Salle as one of the top students of her class.

Gorbova and her parents came to Philadelphia from the Ukraine in 1999. "It is totally different from what I expected," says Gorbova, whose idea of life in the U.S. was based on movies. "Europe and the U.S. are so different, there is no way to compare the two."

The Courtney Scholarship is named for the late Robert J. Courtney, a political science professor who taught at La Salle for more than 45 years.

"He was knowledgeable, lively, and made you want to pursue political science," said Edward Turzanski, a former student of Courtney's, now La Salle's Assistant Vice President for Government and Community Relations.

Courtney's wife, Dawn, and son, Robert, presented the award to Gorbova.