04/10/2007

Special to the Record-Eagle
Nick Micinski of Beulah rides a camel at the Pyramids while studying in Egypt last semester. Now he's received an $8,000 grant to travel to seven countries on four continents for a research project.

Around the world with $8,000

Student gets grant to travel and study Muslim, other cultures

By
Record-Eagle staff writer

Special to the Record-Eagle
Nick Micinski catches a sunrise at the summit of Mt. Sinai while studying in Egypt last semester.

TRAVERSE CITY — Back in high school, Nick Micinski won a national student award for a public service announcement he made that encouraged people to make a difference.

Now the Michigan State University junior hopes to make a difference himself by circumnavigating the globe for a study project.

Micinski, of Beulah, is the winner of an $8,000 Around the World grant from the Michigan Circumnavigators' Foundation to undertake a research project on an issue of "global importance.” The summer project will take him to seven countries on four continents to study Muslim "diaspora,” or dispersion, and minority communities around the world.

"I'm not surprised,” said Scott Kubit, Micinski's former teacher and soccer coach at Benzie Central High School. "It's typical Nick. He's a go-getter.”

A 2004 graduate of Benzie Central, Micinski studies international relations and political theory and constitutional democracy, with a specialization in Muslim studies. He spent the last semester studying abroad at the American University in Cairo, Egypt.

Beginning May 30 he'll travel for 10 weeks in Dearborn, Brazil, France, Norway, Russia, India and Singapore to study Muslim populations and the role that "civil society” or non-government organizations play in helping them assimilate in their adoptive nations. He'll hire translators and stay in hostels along the way.

"I'm making a lot of contacts with organizations and professors in each country who are studying the same things,” said Micinski, 20, who has studied Arabic, Hindi and French. "A lot of it will be meeting with them and conducting interviews with organizations to get a picture of what the organization is and how it works and what it provides, from the voices of people who actually use the organization and are the organization.”

Micinski's is one of four grants given this year to students in Michigan, Illinois, New York and Washington, D.C. said Helen Jost, executive director of the Circumnavigators Club Foundation in New York. The grants allow students to apply what they've learned on college campuses to a cross-cultural world and to develop practical skills in planning, managing and experiencing an itinerary that circumnavigates the globe.

As they go around the world, they represent the Circumnavigators Club, an organization devoted to bringing together those who have crossed the globe for the purpose of improving international relations through friendship and understanding. Former club members include President Howard Taft, General Douglas MacArthur, Admiral Byrd and John Philip Sousa.

Micinski was chosen from 25 applicants from Michigan State University, Wayne State University and the University of Michigan based on the significance of his proposal, his written and oral presentation skills, his academic record and his achievements while attending college, said Mary Carroll, Foundation coordinator for the Michigan Circumnavigators.

"He really has a passion for other communities and things to learn about them,” Carroll said. "We wanted to help him learn more about his topic. It's such a hot topic right now.”

She said the selection committee also was impressed with Micinski's support from MSU instructors. He received additional funding for the project from the university's James Madison College.

Kubit, who taught Micinski in several classes including multi-media design and independent study in video editing, calls him a "multi-talented” young man with strong ideals.

"You could see his awareness, his political development taking place in high school,” he said. "He wanted to go out, he wanted to 'do,' which is sometimes the best way to experience things.”

Micinski said his research, which counts as independent study toward his degree, is a combination of all three of his concentration areas. It grew from seeds planted in high school.

"The reason I have an interest in civil society is all the student organizations I was in,” from soccer to theater to the National Honor Society to Benzie Central Television, he said. "A lot of the value in the organization is the community that it builds around the organization; the friends you meet, the socialization.”

He said he'll call on skills he used in some of those organizations to help in his travels.

"I attribute my Eagle Scout training to the fact that I won't get lost in all these places,” he said.

After completing his research, he'll write a 50-page paper that will serve as the basis for his senior thesis next year, he said. He'll also give a presentation for the Michigan Circumnavigators in October.

Ultimately the project will be training for an international career, perhaps with the State Department's Foreign Service, he said.

"My job will be a similar situation. I'll be around the world somewhere, and it's just preparation for that,” he said.