Meet our 2025 Perugia Scholars

In April 2025, the SPSCA Scholarship Committee awarded four scholarships for a month of Italian language study at the Università per Stranieri di Perugia. Our Scholarship Program is a major way for our members to connect and collaborate with our counterparts in Perugia.

2025 Scholars from left to right: Gina Cantara, Karin McCullough, Conner Suddick, and Adrienne Voerman.

Gina Cantara, who first encountered SPSCA through volunteering at SIFF, grew up in a theatre family with her father often singing Italian arias. Her Italian godparents fostered her love of Italian traditions, culture and values, and she and her husband aspire to move to Italy within the decade. She has been studying Italian since 2019 and is excited for the immersive experience of a month in Perugia.

Karin McCullough is a pianist and piano teacher who began studying Italian many years ago so she could understand all the lyrics of her favorite Italian operas. She’s familiar to SPSCA members as the originator of our popular Italian sing-alongs, in which she plays Italian songs and makes handouts of the lyrics for participants to accompany her. She also hosts our Italian book club. She looks forward to singing with the Voci dal Mondo choir in Perugia and organizing future music-themed SPSCA events here in Seattle.

Conner Suddick is a university-level educator specializing in conflict studies, qualitative research, and Teaching English to Speakers of Other Langauges (TESOL). Conner started studying Italian two years ago to be able to communicate with his spouse's family in Italy and has since fallen in love with the language. After becoming a member of SPSCA, he has faithfully attended our Tavola Italiana Virtuale. Conner volunteers on the Communications and Events Committees, where he works on graphic design projects and will co-coordinate SPSCA's presence at "La Fiera dei Morti" in Perugia.

Adrienne Voerman’s initial exposure to Italy was through a 3-month UW college internship-exchange working for a small bank in the Le Marche region. That program aimed to increase cultural understanding between citizens of Italy and the US, so she assumed the role of “ambassador” at a young age. She recently began studying Italian online at Dante Alighieri and says, “I believe your Sister City Program is a small but very important way to create diplomacy and show that Americans still have heart and want connection with other cultures.”

Many thanks to the tireless volunteers on our Scholarship Committee and to everyone who applied! If you’d like to be considered for a future scholarship, please get involved. Come to the wine tasting, attend our annual picnic, practice your Italian at Tavola, propose an outing or event. Help us get to know you before we read your application!