‘My life would be so different’: One Davis Scholar’s Journey to a Degree, Dreams
For more than two decades, the United World College’s Davis Scholarship has given countless opportunities to international students looking to continue their education abroad. Its success is perhaps nowhere more evident than at the University of Oklahoma, which has earned the prestigious Davis Cup for eight of the last nine years.
OU also holds the largest total enrollment of Davis UWC Scholars in the United States. With 285 students hailing from 107 countries currently at OU through the UWC program, a plethora of different stories and backgrounds abound.
One of those inspiring Davis Scholars is Marien Lopéz-Medina, a junior majoring in journalism.
Lopéz-Medina hails from Managua, the capital city of Nicaragua. Growing up in the country’s largest city, she was blessed with the spirit of inquiry.
“Being from Managua, I was already exposed to other people from other cultural backgrounds but in a minor scale [before studying abroad],” Lopéz-Medina recalled. “There are a lot of minority groups in the city. I was a very curious child growing up because of my environment.”
Lopéz-Medina’s journey to OU spans most of her educational life. As a young scholar, she quickly placed a strong value on pursuing an education and where her studies could take her.
“The UWC was always on my mind as early as childhood,” Lopéz-Medina said. “I was too young then, but I knew that was a route I wanted to take.”
UWC’s mission is simple: To inspire young people to put their talents and energy into social change, no matter which future path they choose. Like many Davis Scholars, Lopéz-Medina’s background and goals personify that mission.
She attributes the Davis United World College program as to why she’s in the United States.
“This is the reason why I am here,” Lopéz-Medina said. “As a Nicaraguan, I can say, the amount of people who are able to study abroad are very few. This allowed me to pursue my diploma here in the U.S. I’m one of the privileged ones.”
Lopéz-Medina first entered the UWC program by attending college in Canada before making her way to OU in 2019. When looking for a new school to continue her education, she had a few things in mind.
“I saw there was a big international community [on OU’s campus],” she said. “It made me very excited to come. There was also a large Latinx community that made me feel comfortable. The university basically gave me everything I needed.”
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In the early weeks of 2020, COVID-19 instigated a wave of uncertainty across the globe. By April, about half of the world’s population was under some form of lockdown.
International students at OU and universities worldwide were faced with a difficult decision: return to their home country on short notice – possibly derailing their studies; or remain in place, thousands of miles from their families and unsure of when they could reunite.
Lopéz-Medina headed back to Managua, spending six months in her hometown. Upon her return, she said she saw the local government using the pandemic to justify freedom of speech crackdowns.
With her newfound understanding of different cultures and traditions from studying abroad, she was driven to act. It was in those six months that she found her new inspiration with her educational goals.
“In those six months, my mindset changed,” she recalled. “There was a little fire in me after that. Something in me woke up. I’m not one to stay quiet, so if I had chosen to become a journalist at home, something might have happened to me,” she said, referring to free speech restrictions.
Upon returning to the United States and OU, Lopéz-Medina decided to pursue something to help other international students. Investigative journalism had always piqued her interest, but as her time at OU arrived, nerves got in the way of fully jumping into the field.
“I wanted to try to write for The OU Daily, but I was scared and didn’t finish my application during winter break of 2019,” she said. “I was still back home and applied and got accepted. It was a hectic time during the pandemic: Black Lives Matter protests in the United States, ICE restrictions to international students, DACA regulations and other events. It was then that I started using my skills in writing and in other languages to share the testimonials of people experiencing it.”
Among the over 145 articles Lopéz-Medina has written for The Daily, her recurring focus has been on the livelihood and struggles that international students often experience. When COVID made the immediate future for international students uncertain, Lopéz-Medina did what she could to help tell their stories.
A number of OU’s Davis Scholars come from places characterized as conflict zones, according to the UWC. A theme throughout Lopéz-Medina’s writing are the ramifications of coming from such places.
“I want to overcome the consequences of coming from a conflict zone while studying abroad,” she said. “I wanted to write about international students and minority groups; to find a story in the daily routine of the people – stories that were easy to find for me based on my experiences in Nicaragua – and to help bring some change.”
Through her journalistic approach and education, Lopéz-Medina hopes to someday bring positive change to her native Nicaragua and Latin America, as well as bring positive change to the world.
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Lopéz-Medina is fluent in three languages – Spanish, English and Portuguese – and hopes to someday make it four with French. Her desire to step outside of her comfort zone, immerse herself into different cultures, countries and even climates personify the UWC’s Davis Scholarship.
“The Davis Scholarship is allowing me to get my degree in the profession I want to pursue,” Lopéz-Medina said. “It allows me to continue my UWC values here at OU and to provide more chances for the people here from the United States to open their minds to different cultures and different people.
“Without the UWC scholarship, my life would be so different.”
By Brady Trantham
Article Published: Wednesday, December 15, 2021