A Gettysburg College senior has earned a fellowship to develop child literacy in Bolivia.

Laura Sprinkle's project will expand on her 2009 study-abroad experience, during which she wrote and illustrated a children's book in Spanish and English. Remembering My Grandpa was translated into the indigenous Quechua language and published in Bolivia.

Sprinkle's fellowship will enable her to work with Kids' Books Bolivia, a multilingual publishing project founded by students and staff of the School for International Training (SIT) Study Abroad program. This summer, she will develop after-school literacy and storytelling programs that center around the SIT books for primary students at two public libraries in Cochabamba.

Sprinkle, who is majoring in globalization studies and sociology, was in Bolivia in 2009 through SIT's Bolivia: Multiculturalism, Globalization and Social Change program. SIT is part of World Learning, the organization that granted her an Alice Rowan Swanson Fellowship, which provides grants for SIT Study Abroad alums to pursue projects relating to human rights.

Gettysburg College played an important role in encouraging Sprinkle to study in Bolivia, she told World Learning in an extensive interview.

"Even before studying abroad, I was always interested in being a part of social change and making a positive impact on the world, but didn't really know how I was going to go about doing that," she said. "Choosing a study abroad location was a long process, but I talked with people in the Globalization Studies department and with Off Campus Studies at Gettysburg, all of whom highly recommended SIT. I met with a couple of Gettysburg students who had done the program in the past. They both said amazing things about it, and it got me really excited."

"After the fellowship is completed I plan to pursue a degree in international development and continue to promote human rights through education," said Sprinkle, who hails from Nashua, N.H.

Read World Learning's announcement of the fellowship.

Learn more about Remembering My Grandpa.

Founded in 1832, Gettysburg College is a highly selective four-year residential college of liberal arts and sciences with a strong academic tradition. Alumni include Rhodes Scholars, a Nobel laureate, and other distinguished scholars. The college, which enrolls 2,600 undergraduate students, is located on a 200-acre campus adjacent to the Gettysburg National Military Park in Pennsylvania.

Contact: Jim Hale, senior staff writer