This summer, Fernando Delgado '04 will teach children who live on the streets in Brazil. Lindsay Dell '05 will work in Bolivia to help women find jobs. And Matt Goldberg '04 will write and perform plays about AIDS in Brazil.
Delgado, Dell and Goldberg are three of five Paul E. Sigmund Scholars. The award, funded by the Latin American studies program, gives undergraduates pursuing a certificate in the program the opportunity to participate in innovative projects in Latin America.
Andre Montes '03 and Vicente Piedrahita '04 have also won the award, which is new this year. Winners receive $5,000.
The award honors politics professor Paul Sigmund, who has taught at the University since 1963. When he first arrived at the University, he realized that no one was researching Latin American politics. He has since written numerous books and articles on the topic.
The goal of the scholarship is "to get people to Latin America before they do their thesis," he said, calling the experience "getting their fingers dirty."
While the specific projects that the students are participating in may not lead to a thesis, they could inspire future work at medical or business school, Sigmund said.
The award drew much interest this year, with 45 people applying for the five spots. Under stiff competition, the winners were exceptional, Sigmund said.
"These students have superlative grade records," he said.
In one case, one student had all A's — with the exception of one A+. In addition, the proposals clearly identified organizations to sponsor their projects.
"What is striking about these five is that they have a clear focus," Sigmund said, "They knew what they were going to do when they got off the plane."
Delgado will participate in Projeto Axe, a non-profit civil institution based in Salvador — a city on the northeast coast of Brazil. It allows Brazilian children in urban areas to have access to both an academic and a cultural education.
The program also seeks to reunite separated families and provide an alternate situation for the children whenever possible.
"They help people become assimilated into society so they can be full citizens," said Delgado, a Wilson School major from Brazil.
"The program also taps into the local culture, incorporating elements of the African heritage of which many of the children are a part," he said.
He hopes to compare children he encounters with those he met last summer while working for a community service program in New York City.
Dell will participate in Plan Vida, a program that educates people in rural areas about family planning and contraception. Dell, who is community service chair of OWL, also plans to help Bolivian women find secondary income sources.
Her interest in Latin America began before coming to the University.
Last year, Dell took a year off before coming to college to work for a world development organization in Honduras. At the University, she has taken classes about Latin America and participated in Princeton in Cuba during Spring Break.
The project is "an interplay of what I'm interested in personally and what I'm involved in academically," she said.
Goldberg will work with Saude 10!, a public health education project in Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil. Saude 10! creates street theater performances about breast-feeding, HIV and AIDS and Dengue fever, a tropical hemorraghic disease that can result in death.
Goldberg, who has spent the past two summers in Brazil, hopes to initiate conferences and training sessions and start chapters in local communities.
He hopes to change Saude 10!'s current program of plays about prostitutes and homosexuals to aim them toward adolescents.
"It makes Princeton students dream up creative projects," said Goldberg, an anthropology major. "It's a strong vehicle to study other aspects of community."
Montes will explore public safety and criminality in Brazil, focusing on Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Brasilia.
Piedrahita will study the appropriation of public spaces in Latin America, especially Lima, Peru, and Bogota, Colombia.
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