Mizzou Track & Field's Faramola Shonekan Named 2020 Mark Twain Fellowship Recipient
4/29/2020 2:40:00 PM | Women's Track and Field, Track & Field
Mizzou Track & Field senior and Columbia native, Faramola Shonekan, receives prestigious Mizzou fellowship
COLUMBIA, Mo. - Mizzou Track & Field senior Faramola Shonekan (Columbia, Mo.) was awarded the 2020 Mark Twain Fellowship by University of Missouri leadership on Tuesday afternoon. The prestigious fellowship has been awarded to a Mizzou graduate each year since 2012. The fellowship provides support for Mizzou students and recent alumni seeking to pursue graduate study abroad.
Shonekan's full tuition and fees at the University of Oxford will be covered, and she will also receive a stipend for housing and living costs. While at Oxford, Shonekan will work towards a master's degree in Global and Imperial History. After completing a degree overseas, Shonekan hopes to return to the states to utilize her research and attend law school.
"I'd love to use my research to work with international institutions such as the United Nations, the International Criminal Courts and even governments to inform and advise them on human rights and how law plays a part and how history plays a part," she explained.
Shonekan attended Rock Bridge High School before beginning as a freshman on campus at Mizzou during the fall of 2016. Shonekan is a four-year member of the Mizzou Track & Field team and she has competed at more than 40 events between cross country and track and field. Shonekan specializes in the 600m and the 800m on the track and collected three top-three finishes this season during the 2020 indoor season.
Obviously, Shonekan had to balance both a rigorous course load and a yearlong training regimine for track and cross country. While the challenge was difficult as a freshman, Shonekan realized that she wanted to work tirelessly to commit to both her education and her athletic career.
"I would think about how passionate I am about these two things, they make up who I am," she said. "I think about how I grew up and how I was raised. I was raised to be an athlete but I was also raised to be a scholar. I realize that yes it might be hard to balance these two sides of myself but really, one side really can't thrive without the other. I wouldn't have been a successful student if I wouldn't have been involved in track and cross country. I wouldn't have been a good athlete if I had not been so driven academically."
Shonekan was recently awarded the Mizzou Female Student Athlete of the Year at the 2020 ROARs for her dedication on the track and in the classroom. She is also currently a semi-finalist for the Arthur Ashe Jr. Sports Scholar Award.
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