Harvard senior awarded Mitchell Scholarship

Harvard College senior Victoria Sprow is among the 12 national recipients of the 2006-07 George J. Mitchell Scholarship. Only the third Harvard student ever to receive the Mitchell award, Sprow will study for a master’s degree in creative writing at Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland.

Sprow, who is set to graduate this June with a degree in English and American Literature, is editor of the Vox Literary Review, the magazine of the Catholic Student Association dedicated to the publication of art in the spirit of the John Paul II commitment to encourage aesthetics as an expression of faith. Winner of the Edward Eager Memorial Prize awarded to the best creative writing by a Harvard undergraduate, Sprow has published short stories and poetry widely. Last year, Sprow was selected for participation in the prestigious Iowa Writer’s Workshop, which engages promising writers from around the world. At Harvard, she has been one of eight student representatives involved with the University’s major project to plan and reshape the undergraduate curriculum for the first time in 30 years. She worked as a staff assistant to Sen. Richard Lugar (R-Ind.) at the Senate Foreign Relations Committee dealing especially with Latin American issues and also was an intern for the American Foreign Service Association in Washington, D.C.

The Mitchell Scholarship recognizes outstanding young Americans who exhibit the highest standards of academic excellence, leadership, and community service. Administered by the U.S.-Ireland Alliance, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C., the scholarship is named in honor of the pivotal role the former U.S. senator played in the Northern Ireland peace process. The scholarship program links future American leaders to the island of Ireland by a year of graduate study at a university in Ireland or Northern Ireland.