Snapshots from Life on Kiribati
By Aurora Brachman, Fulbright U.S. Student to Kiribati During my sophomore year at Pomona College I became aware of Kiribati, a small Pacific Island nation at risk of vanishing forever under rising More »
Bringing Seabirds to the Mountains: Environmental Storytelling Through Fulbright
Fulbright-National Geographic program alumni Kevin McLean & Abby McBride recently attended the Mountainfilm Festival in Telluride, CO to speak about their work as fellows—offering a glimpse into some of the most groundbreaking More »
Discovering the Unexpected in West Virginia
By Oyundari Ganbaatar, Foreign Fulbright Student, Mongolia When I first received the email inviting me to attend the weeklong Fulbright-Amizade service-learning program in Williamson, West Virginia, I was excited to share the More »
Lessons from Williamson
By Karen Jimeno, Fulbright Foreign Student, the Philippines The first time I heard about Williamson, West Virginia, I had no clue where it was. Growing up in the Philippines, I had heard More »
All It Takes is One: Creating a Fulbright Culture on Campus
Written by Mallory Carpenter, Fulbright Program Advisor, Marshall University, Huntington, WV
As a West Virginia native and first generation college student, hearing that fellowship applicants from West Virginia are like “unicorns” took me by surprise. At the biennial National Association of Fellowship Advisors conference, a fellow attendee made the comparison because, according to her, “West Virginia applications are so rare and so special.”
West Virginia is an underrepresented state in terms of the number of students who study abroad. Prior to the creation of the Fulbright Advising office at Marshall University, students had received a few study abroad awards back in the 1960s, but then literally nothing until 2015 – just before I was hired. That year, a student applied and received a Fulbright English Teaching Award (ETA) to teach in the Slovak Republic—this was the first Fulbright student award we had had in 48 years.
Despite this, I saw many connections between the character of my student population and the mission of Fulbright. Encouraged by the ETA award success, I heavily promoted the Fulbright Program on campus. Fulbright’s mission of cross-cultural exchange fit my students’ drive and desire.
During the first year that my office was in operation, I had one applicant. He applied to a highly competitive UK Partnership Program. This was our first study/research application in years and there we were—advancing forward in the competition already. Sadly, right after his semifinalist notification came word that the UK school involved in his proposed partnership was doing away with the degree program—and that was that.
Nonetheless, I used that small success to promote the program more. “Look, we had one applicant last year and he advanced in one of the most competitive programs. You can do this,” I found myself saying over and over again to my students. My mission was to convince my unicorns they were really unicorns—by talking to them about their stories and showing them how they fit with Fulbright’s mission.
Hailey Hughes
The next year, I had an outstanding student who was incredibly interested in a Fulbright award in Ireland. Hailey Hughes, an English major who was also interested in using disability studies in her creative writing, wanted to apply. We worked diligently for months on her application. Her professors approached me regularly, asking,“Have you heard anything? When will she find out?” It seemed like half the campus was invested in the student’s application.
I wish I could say Hailey got the award, but she didn’t. We were all disappointed. I tried to see the bright side, though. My office had been open for two years, and for the first time my office not only had applicants to Fulbright, but each of these applicants had been a semifinalist. Hailey came back to me in the spring saying, “I think I want to do this again. I want to reapply.”
That year, I had two applicants. The Fulbright snowball was rolling. Once again Hailey advanced to semifinalist status. Then, in early April, we received notification Hailey had received the award. She was the first study/research winner my institution has had since 1967.
People will see Hailey as a representative of the Fulbright Program and will get a glimpse of what West Virginians and people with disabilities can accomplish. To date, I’ve had double the level of interest in Fulbright applications for this year’s cycle. I can’t wait to see where it’ll go from here.
Photo Credit: Stephen Broome
Reading Greece
Written by Steven Tagle, Fulbright US Student to Greece 2016-17
At Mytikas, the highest peak of Mount Olympus, with Josh Arnold, an American friend I made on the way up
When I describe my year in Greece, I often feel like I’m describing a place I imagined rather than a place that actually exists. It is a place where golden light strikes marble columns and sparkles over the wine-dark sea; where rowdy, curious, and clever characters drink and dance; where tradition and innovation, creativity, and chaos brew in a social and economic cauldron. As a fiction writer with an admittedly tenuous grip on reality, I’ve inhabited Greece the way a reader inhabits a book. “Reading” Greece this year has reawakened my senses and bound me to Greek and Syrian people whose mythic stories have challenged what I thought I knew about the crises, and what I thought I knew about myself. I may be the newest reader of a book that spans millennia, but like Byron, Fermor, and Merrill, I’ve found a home in this country and hope to contribute to its pages.
The Vikos Gorge from the Beloi Lookout in Vradeto, supposedly the deepest gorge in Europe.
I came to Greece through its mythology, intrigued by a people whose gods were as raucous, petty, and vindictive as they were noble and just. The landscapes of Greece retain the mystery and power of mythology. Thanks to Fulbright, I’ve visited many of these places, where our world still seems to touch the world of the gods. I’ve walked along the Acheron River – the “River of Woe” – whose spectral blue waters seem colored by the spirits of the dead. I’ve listened for prophecy in the rustling oak leaves at Dodona and felt stalactites drip onto the back of my neck as a silent boatman ferried me through the caves at Diros. I’ve retraced Odysseus’s homeward path through the Ionian Islands and paid tribute to monsters Hercules had slain in the Peloponnese. Some days, traveling alone and outside my comfort zone, I walked on the edge of fear, knowing that beyond fear is awe, or δέος, the proper attitude for approaching the gods.
I saw δέος on a Naoussan boy’s face during Carnival when he put on the wax mask of the γενίτσαρος for the very first time. I learned to play Trex in UNHCR hotels and befriended an amorous Iraqi who had lost his legs as a child. My students at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki shared their yiayias’ spoon sweets and their own stories of first love, of coming out, of overcoming anxiety, of living with HIV. I visited their hometowns, stations of my Syrian friends’ wayward journeys. I know which cheeses each island produces and for which dessert each village is famous. Everyone I’ve met breathes a bit of Greece into me, and their life stories take root in my imagination. Now initiated into Greek culture, I’m eager to soak up every bit of history and myth, new local food, new tradition.
At Kallimarmaro Stadium with the Solidarity Now team, the first refugee team to run in the Athens Marathon.
A monk on Mount Athos gave me this advice: To write distinctly, live distinctly. In Greece I learned a different way to live. I’ve always held myself apart from people, but here, I was expected to spill into other people’s lives, to reach over them for food, to let myself need and be needed by them. Friends who have visited me in Greece say that I speak louder in Greek, that I’m more willing to talk to strangers, more willing to ask for help. They notice how Greek people open up to me when I speak the language. When a Greek asks me if I’m part Greek, I respond, Ναι, η καρδιά μου είναι ελληνική, “Yes, my heart is Greek.” Completing my Fulbright year is a bittersweet accomplishment, like coming to the of a beloved book. But as Greece has become part of me, so has my experience become part of the story of Greece.
Fulbright for Posterity: The Ripple Effects of Fulbright on Rural America
By Niecea Freeman, Fulbright ETA to Czech Republic 2018-2019
“How about: It’s quality, not quantity?” my dad proposed, wearing a grin. We were brainstorming city slogans for Loyalton, California, my hometown of 800 people nestled in the Sierra Nevada mountains—now named “the Loneliest Town in America.” We all laughed. On the surface, country living seems like paradise, but in reality a myriad of issues affect rural communities across the nation. Employment opportunities are sparse, lower income leads to higher instances of poverty, and—consequently—there is a clear demand and absolute need for higher quality education.
When the town’s sawmill closed in 2001, followed by a mass population exodus, Loyalton’s tax revenues declined rapidly and ancillary school programming disappeared with them. First, we lost music and art specials. Later, our middle school was condemned, and students were moved from portable buildings into the high school, losing their separate facilities entirely. In truth, it has only been through the extraordinary efforts of dedicated teachers and community members that our school district has been kept afloat: teachers like my high school Spanish instructor, Megan Meschery, who are determined to redefine our local community without much funding from state or federal agencies.
In 2008, Megan left for a Fulbright grant in Granada, Spain, where she examined how rural economic development funding provided by the European Union reduced inequalities in public schools regardless of geographic location. She sought to find parallels and lessons applicable to rural education in America and to develop ways to promote cultural awareness and growth in Loyalton. While Megan’s experiences rather highlighted the differences between U.S. and EU development models, Megan also returned from her two-year Fulbright burgeoning with ideas tailored to Loyalton’s situation, and immediately found ways to introduce positive change, starting with school electives.
My favorite memories from high school are from the culture club she initiated, through which I saw my first Broadway play, Wicked, and visited my first classical art exhibit, featuring masterpieces from Rembrandt and Raphael. These experiences opened my eyes to the world beyond our tiny valley, and change did not stop there.
The following year, Megan founded a non-profit organization called The Sierra Schools Foundation (SSF – sierraschoolsfoundation.org) to combat inequality in the school district by providing grants for resources and programs such as the STEM Learning Garden, Local-Artists-in-the-School, Advancing to College SAT prep, and others. I volunteered with SSF throughout college, running fundraisers, where I witnessed firsthand how, with dedication and perseverance, local organizations genuinely have power to initiate positive change.
These formative experiences propelled me to apply for a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship in the Czech Republic for the 2018-2019 academic year, where I will be living in a rural community not unlike Loyalton, teaching English to secondary students enrolled in veterinary and agricultural programs. As an undergrad, I pursued a B.S. in Integrated Elementary Education with an emphasis in English as a Second Language with the primary goal of becoming an elementary school teacher in a high-needs, rural community in the United States. Now, I am ready to go forward and learn from the students and families of my host country to explore new perspectives and pedagogies that will reshape the way I view myself and my role as an educator. The quantity of programs in Loyalton’s schools has stagnated, but the quality of our education can continue to blossom
2018 Fulbright Year in Review
Last year, Fulbright Program Participants made strides in education, art, and science across the globe. Take a look back on the year in the 2018 Fulbright Year in Review.
