Wilkins named ‘Student of Month’ for September at University of S.C.

An adventuresome Russell Wilkins samples snow on La Campana in Chile's coastal mountain range. John Russell Wilkins, son of John and Lynn Wilkins of Gaffney, has been named Student of the Month for September at the University of South Carolina.

Wilkins is a 2001 graduate of Gaffney High School and has been recipient of the Cherokee County Gamecock Club scholarship for four years.

Wilkins expects to graduate from USC in December. A senior in the College of Arts and Sciences with a double major in Spanish and Interdisciplinary Studies (focusing on linguistics), he exemplifies the best of what is valued in the arts and sciences: he’s bright, curious, willing to take intellectual risks, and is concerned with and about the larger world around him.

Wilkins entered the University of South Carolina with strong interests in languages and international issues. His first courses in Spanish and linguistics quickly led him to decide that he wanted to deepen and broaden his understanding of language and the critical role it plays in human culture and communication.

Under the guidance of the college’s Spanish and linguistics faculty, he studied Spanish language and linguistics, Chilean literature and culture, and Latin American history and geography at the Pontifical Catholic University of Valparaiso, Chile in 2004.

Wilkins says that his study-abroad experience in Chile was both personally and intellectually transforming.

“So often the places in the world news are just ‘over there.’ My ‘family’ and friends in Chile are such an important part of my life now and ‘over there’ – be it anywhere – seems so much more real and relevant,” he said.

Wilkins has plans to complete a graduate program in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages and then apply his language and teaching skills in the Peace Corps, preferably with an assignment in Latin America. Although his ultimate career goal is not determined, he knows that it will encompass teaching and service, “something that will give people more opportunities for a better life.”