Morgan local awarded prestigious scholarship

MORGAN – It’s not uncommon to hear the sentiment that students are the future. However, when it comes to the Schwarzman Scholars program and scholarship, this phrase may be taken much more literally than it otherwise would. The difference lies in the fact that the Schwarzman Scholars program, a small group of 150 is training the future leaders of the world. 

With students coming from 114 different universities in 43 different countries around the world, the Schwarzman Scholars program is a one-year, fully-funded master’s degree program in global affairs hosted at Tsinghua University in Beijing, China. As described in a recent press release, “Each year, up to 200 candidates from around the world are selected to join a diverse cohort. Schwarzman Scholars seeks candidates with leadership qualities and the potential to foster cross-cultural understanding. Scholars come from a wide variety of industries and backgrounds, such as business, technology, politics, healthcare, and more”

So, what does this program have to do with Morgan? One of the 150 students selected is Morgan County’s own Parker Lyman. Selected from around 4,000 candidates, Parker is already an accomplished scholar, holding a B.S. in Economics and a B.A. in Chinese from Utah State University, where he was a Huntsman Scholar. With a background as impressive as Lyman already has, it’s easy to see how well-equipped he will be for this new program. 

Lyman joins an impressive selection within the program as well. The Morgan County local will be rubbing shoulders with an Emmy nominee, a policy advisor to Canada’s Minister of Labour and Seniors, a U.S. national competitive figure skater, the CEO of the International Swimming League, and many more with equally impressive resumes. It just goes to show what kind of caliber Lyman is to have been selected along with these candidates, and what an amazing opportunity this will be.

With so many different countries and thought leaders represented, the Schwarzman Scholars program is bound to be somewhat of a microcosm of a geopolitical think tank. Parker, along with his peers in the program will be able to exchange ideas, and learn from one another, as well as from their mentors and teachers in a program that is bound to not only teach great leadership and entrepreneurial skills but also help guide the future leaders of the world.

This diverse group from dozens of different backgrounds and countries will also be able to strengthen ties on a very personal level. Going through a rigorous program like this together will create friendships across borders and timezones that will encourage cooperation and mutual assistance in the future, creating a closer, and more cooperative global community. 

In addition to his impressive academic career, Parker has also invested in global technology startups as an associate at Lightbank and previously as an analyst at Elevation Capital and was a student global ambassador at the Taiwan-U.S. Sister Relations Alliance. Parker also started a Chinese-speaking vlog on Bilibili that grew to over 50,000 subscribers.λ