Nina Brekelmans ’12

Nina Brekelmans ’12 passed away in an apartment fire in Washington, D.C., on June 3, 2015. Nina was born on March 6, 1990, in Gahanna, Ohio. She majored in Arabic language and literature and was a Rockefeller First-year Fellow, involved with the Rockefeller policy research shop as well as the Rockefeller management and leadership development program. Nina was an athlete who loved playing soccer and tennis, as well as a committed long-distance runner and a member of the varsity running team. Nina studied abroad while at Dartmouth, first in Alexandria, Egypt, and later in Amman, Jordan. Nina recently received a master’s in Arabic studies with a focus on women’s issues from Georgetown University. While at Georgetown she was a member of the Georgetown Running Club and a mentor for the Girls on the Run program. Nina also volunteered with Reclaim Childhood in Amman, which works to empower refugees and local girls through sports activities. She was recently awarded a Fulbright fellowship and planned to return to Jordan to continue her Arabic language studies as well as her research on female distance runners. The Georgetown Center for Contemporary Arab Studies established the Nina Brekelmans Memorial Endowed Scholarship Fund to continue Nina’s passion for empowering women in the Middle East through athletics. Nina is survived by her parents, Gail and Nico, and her brother, Rob.