Foreign Fulbright Archives - Page 13 of 27 - Fulbright Student Program Blog

An Architect Discovered Hope in Williamson

March 21, 2016

Former Mayor of Williamson, Darren McCormick, from 2005 - 2014 teaches the Fulbright Amizade participants about the community's history. Photo by Jorge Caraballo Cordovez.

Former Mayor of Williamson, Darrin McCormick, from 2005 – 2014 teaches the Fulbright Amizade participants about the community’s history. Photo by Jorge Caraballo Cordovez.

As an architect from the Middle East, I came to United States to pursue a master’s degree. I was invited by Fulbright and Amizade to Williamson, West Virginia, to do community service. Williamson is a small town in Mingo County that recently experienced the impacts of coal mines being shutdown. As a result, the population declined from 10,000 to 3,000 citizens in the past few years. The town was in a critical situation until community heroes tried to find new hope. Through Amizade and Fulbright, I had a chance to meet these leaders and learned from them that it is not impossible to change a community whose livelihood has depended on coal into a sustainable, green one. I learned from these leaders that small actions can have huge impacts on the community. Actions like community farms, health care, building renovations and a CoalFields Got Talent show. It is like throwing small rocks in a calm lake; you start seeing ripples spreading and growing throughout the community.

“I believe we can make Williamson sustainable and green if we believe in it and start involving the community.” Darrin McCormick, Former Mayor of Williamson

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Enrichment Foreign Fulbright

Finding New Life in the Strip Mines of Williamson

March 17, 2016

Fulbright Amizade participants visiting a community garden in Williamson, WV, built on a mountain top after strip mining. Photo by Khaliungoo Ganbat

When I was informed of my selection to participate in the Fulbright Amizade service-learning program in Williamson, West Virginia, I was very excited to share the news with my friends in the United States. To my surprise, their reaction to what I thought was great news was rather negative. They said that West Virginia is like a U.S. version of the developing world, and told me to get ready to see a completely different face of America than what I had seen since I began my Fulbright grant. Having worked with people from rural areas in Mongolia, who struggled to find drinking water, and Aboriginal Australians, whose livelihoods are almost completely dependent on mining, I wasn’t sure what to expect from West Virginia.

On our second day, we drove to Williamson and enjoyed the beautiful scenery all throughout the trip. When we arrived, it was nothing like my friends had described. It was small, yet well-organized and unbelievably clean. We were welcomed by the former Mayor Darrin McCormick, who showed us around and spoke about how Williamson is rebuilding its economy after their coal production had plummeted. It seemed to me that Williamson is headed in a positive direction and has great potential to diversify its economy.

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Enrichment Foreign Fulbright

Faces of Williamson, West Virginia: A Photo Essay

March 16, 2016

I’ve only been in Williamson, West Virginia for 48 hours and even though it’s not enough time to have a deep sense of everything that is happening in town, I’ve found a significant contrast between the quiet energy that I feel on the streets and the vitality of the residents who are trying to make improvements to their community.

I have been walking around with my camera capturing signs of a town that has suffered a dramatic decrease in its population–from 10,000 to 3,000 people–and talking with locals, asking them why they chose to stay when the coal industry has slowed down.

Williamson, West Virginia, was once a vibrant mining town with a population of 10,000 people. Since the big coal mines closed, there has been a dramatic decrease in the population. You can feel the absence of those who have left.

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Enrichment Foreign Fulbright U.S. Fulbright

Meet the Fulbright Amizade Participants!

March 11, 2016

top_banner_email In March 2016, the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs will sponsor six Fulbright Foreign Student Program students, along with six Fulbright U.S. Student Program alumni to participate in a week-long service-learning program in Williamson, WV led by Amizade Global Service-Learning which empowers individuals and communities through worldwide volunteering.

During their week-long program in Williamson, Fulbrighters will participate in service activities and learning about the town and its history. Williamson is a small rural coal-mining town in Mingo County (WV) that once was home to 10,000 residents and a thriving coal economy in the mid-20th century. However, in recent years, Williamson has experienced a collapsed coal mining industry, a series of devastating floods, and de-population. Now a population of 3,000, community members have joined together to create Sustainable Williamson, the local organization with whom Fulbright students and alumni will be working. Sustainable Williamson is a small team of community organizations that work together to increase access to fresh foods, initiate active living programs, and teach healthy living styles. Throughout the week, the Fulbrighters will be sharing in, and learning how, community members are pioneering and engaging in thoughtful work in order to maintain their cultural framework while also creating a realm of new opportunities.

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Enrichment Foreign Fulbright

2016 Philadelphia Foreign Fulbright Enrichment Seminar

March 10, 2016

From March 3-6, 2016, Fulbrighters took to the “City of Brotherly Love,” Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to participate in the 2016 Enrichment Seminar, “Democracy in Action: U.S. Politics and Elections.” Joining the more than 130 students over the course of local cultural site visits, community service activities, and a presidential election simulation workshop included accomplished political commentators, strategists, and academics.

Held at the Independence Visitor’s Center, the opening dinner welcomed CNN’s Michael A. Smerconish to deliver a phenomenal keynote address, “Stuck in the Middle with You: How Did We Get Where We Are (Politically) and What Will It Take to Get Out.” Smerconish, who is the author of two New York Times’ best sellers, analyzed the current fraught U.S. political climate heading into the 2016 general election in November, and even offered an apt comparison between the U.S. two-party system, voter preferences, and citizens’ proclivity to shop at specific grocery stores based on location.

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Enrichment Foreign Fulbright

Highlights from the 2016 Global Health Innovations Seminar

March 4, 2016

Fulbright Foreign Students attending the Global Health Innovations Seminar in Lexington, Kentucky

On February 24-28, 2016, the Fulbright Program, in partnership with the University of Kentucky’s College of Public Health, hosted the second annual Global Health Innovations Seminar in Lexington, Kentucky. During the five day seminar, “Global Health and the UN Millennium Goals,” Fulbrighters had the opportunity to not only engage with fellow Fulbrighters, but with global health professionals and practitioners.

88 foreign students hailing from 47 different countries convened for a series of panels, workshops, and gatherings as they discussed pertinent topics in global health related to the success and lessons learned from the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) focused on public health, namely MDG Goal 1 (Eradicate Extreme Poverty and Hunger), Goal 4 (Reduce Child Mortality), Goal 5 (Improve Mental Health), and Goal 6 (Combat HIV/AIDS, Malaria). Additional conversations were focused on how feedback from MDG target indicators will inform implementation of the recently United Nations adopted Sustainable Development Goals and the post-2015 agenda.

Fulbright attendees included an impressive sampling of students studying various science and health-related disciplines, a few of which are global health, health policy, pharmaceutical economics, international development, and medical entomology.

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