UD senior Heaven Brown studied Kente cloth making in Ghana over the summer thanks to a study grant from UD’s Plastino Scholars program, which allows students to create their own hands-on learning experiences.

Pursuing personal passions

Article by Hilary Douwes Photos courtesy of Heaven Brown and Cole Bilbrough September 17, 2026

2026 Plastino Scholars explore interests around the world

University of Delaware senior Heaven Brown can’t wait to get her Kente stole at graduation in May. The brightly colored cloth represents several pride points: her academic accomplishments, presidency of UD’s Black Student Union and Black American heritage. It also reminds her of her trip to Ghana as a Plastino Scholar where she learned how the colorful cloth is made.

The Plastino Scholars program provides study grants that enable undergraduates to design their own hands-on learning opportunities — each centered on a personal passion. The goal is to spark transformational change in both their academic journeys and their lives beyond the classroom.

Brown wrapped in a Kente cloth. This piece was made from sewing several strips of the colorful and symbolic cloth together.

Established through the generosity of UD alumnus David A. Plastino 19 years ago, the program has enabled nearly 80 Blue Hens to dream big, take risks and pursue their passions.

Brown, an honors fashion design and product innovation major, spent two weeks in the African country meeting with designers and craftspeople to find out how they weave Ghanaian culture into the different colors, styles and patterns in Kente cloth, and how incorporating culture into their designs can make fashion more sustainable.

“I love seeing designers incorporate their background, their heritage, their culture,” she said. “I think it makes the clothing even more meaningful, and I think consumers, especially the people who have a similar culture or background, feel seen when you design like that. Cultural pride is something that is so precious.”

Brown’s busy itinerary included a Kente weaving class, trips to secondhand markets, and visits to a cultural festival, museums and a small library. Despite being so far from home, she found many similarities between Ghanaian and Black American cultures.

“Seeing it all in person was very insightful. Everything feels even more interconnected,” she said. “I’m very excited to graduate and get my stole.”

Brown immersed herself in Ghanaian culture during her trip, visiting secondhand markets and attending festivals. Here she’s with a Queen Mother of a Ghanaian family during a culture festival.

Scholarship at home and abroad

For senior Cole Bilbrough, being a Plastino Scholar allowed him to combine two passions — science and the humanities — through a road trip across the U.S. He spent 18 days on the road, stopping in large cities and small communities, interviewing people connected either directly or indirectly to health care about their views of health, illness and mortality.

He talked with a range of participants, including a palliative care physician and a Buddhist priest in New York City, and a death doula in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

For his project, senior Cole Bilbrough interviewed people across the U.S. connected either directly or indirectly to health care about their views of health, illness and mortality.

“A lot of my course of study has been focused on trying to merge the humanities with STEM and finding ways to sort of bridge that gap,” he said. “I feel that people have this particular image of medicine when they think about it and that it's very sort of clinical and cold and not humanistic at all.”

He was inspired to do the project after working as an EMT during his sophomore and junior years. Part of his training included how to distance himself emotionally while working with patients. He didn’t necessarily agree with the mindset and wanted to find the viewpoint of others in the field.

His biggest takeaway from the experience?

“Within healthcare we have these different philosophies and they all serve a time and a place,” he said. “After doing this project I don’t know if I can really agree with always putting your own emotions first as a provider is the most responsible thing to do,” he said.

Two other 2026 Plastino Scholars students will do their projects in the upcoming Winter Session.

Josie Zaccoli, a senior finance major, will travel to London and Bristol, England, to film a documentary that explores how and if Carl Jung’s “shadow self” theory appears in contemporary European art.

Ana McCabe, a junior landscape architecture major, will travel to India, the UK, the Netherlands and Ireland to examine what practicing martial arts represents for women in different parts of the world.

Interest meetings Sept. 21 and Oct. 13

The Plastino Scholars program awards study grants up to $6,000 to selected undergraduate students who exhibit extraordinary talent, promise and imagination. UD undergraduates who are enrolled for at least 12 semester hours and have not completed more than five semesters are eligible to apply.

Interest meetings for the 2027 Plastino Scholars will be held Monday, Sept. 21, at 4:30 p.m. in Lammot duPont Lab, and Tuesday, Oct. 13, at 4:30 p.m. in Brown Lab. Current Plastino Scholars will discuss their program experiences and the application process.