Fulbright Alumni Ambassador Archives - Page 5 of 8

Meet the 2016 Fulbright Alumni Ambassadors!

December 14, 2015

2016 Fulbright Alumni Ambassadors (from left to right, back row): Hanna Miller, Jonathan Rabb, Katelyn Leader, Alex Counts, Chane Corp, David Morales, Ryan Stock, Jilisa Milton, Mathieu Davis, Daniel Koehler; (left to right, front row) Mary Ogunrinde, Hannah Jones, Claire Manneh, Emmanuel Johnson, Christina Galardi, Evy Vourlides, Lauren Pitts, Alex Anderson, David Fleming, Rafael Camacho, Jr., and Emily Yedinak at the U.S. Department of State

On Thursday, December 10, 2015, 20 newly selected Fulbright U.S. Student Program Alumni Ambassadors met in Washington, DC to receive training on how to promote and recruit for the Fulbright U.S. Student Program. Staff members from the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) and the Institute of International Education (IIE), along with previous Fulbright Alumni Ambassadors, shared tips on effectively presenting the impact, innovativeness, and inclusiveness of Fulbright Program opportunities. The orientation workshop emphasized the unique and important role that Fulbright Alumni Ambassadors play in inspiring a diverse range of students, artists, and early career professionals – as well as the Fulbright Program Advisers and college administrators who support them – to learn more about the Fulbright Program and the power of educational and cultural exchange.

This year’s group was joined by notable Fulbright U.S. Student Program alumnus, Alex Counts (1988-1989, Bangladesh), Founder and past President and CEO of the Grameen Foundation, who shared how his Fulbright experiences continue to have an impact on his professional and non-professional life. Alex encouraged the 2016 Fulbright Alumni Ambassadors to share their Fulbright story and utilize the skills and cultural competencies they acquired as Fulbrighters with everyone they meet as representatives of the Program and beyond.

The Fulbright U.S. Student Alumni Ambassador Program was established in 2008 to identify, train and engage a select group of approximately 15-20 Fulbright U.S. Student Program alumni to serve as representatives, recruiters and spokespersons for the Fulbright Program. They are selected annually through recommendations from Fulbright Commissions, U.S. Embassy staff, area managers, and the Fulbright Student Program Outreach Division, and approved by the Fulbright Program’s sponsor, ECA. Fulbright Alumni Ambassadors come from an array of different ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds, states, fields of study, and institutions and have participated in the Fulbright U.S. Student Program in all world areas.

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U.S. Fulbright

Surrounded by Extraordinary People

December 3, 2015

Jonathan Rabb, 2012-2013, Germany, hiking in Marburg

“If you surround yourself with people who are smarter than you, there is no telling how far you will go.” That is what Reiner Rohr, the Deputy Director of the German Fulbright Commission, told me and a small group of bright-eyed Fulbrighters upon our arrival in country. This just so happens to be some of the most important advice I have ever gotten, and it helped me utilize every single moment of my grant to the fullest.

My name is Jonathan Rabb and I was one of seven journalists awarded Fulbright’s Beginning Professional Journalists grants to Germany for the 2012-2013 academic year. This grant was created in 1996 to allow a select group of promising U.S. journalists to come to Germany to conduct research, improve their craft, and complete residencies at German media and news outlets. For my particular grant, I did multiple residencies in digital audience development and transmedia, including one at UFA LAB, a one-of-a-kind digital creative lab owned by the oldest and largest production company in Germany. At UFA LAB, I worked on developing new formats for online television and did on-air coverage in both German and English for “eNtR berlin,” a YouTube channel, on events ranging from Barack Obama’s historic 2013 visit to Berlin to re:publica, one of the world’s largest and most important conferences on digital culture.

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U.S. Fulbright

Does it Pass the Test? Math Education Research in China

November 16, 2015

Allie Surina, 2012-2013, China

I researched math achievement in Xi’an, China as part of the Fulbright U.S. Student Program, and I was in for a surprise. I discovered a student learning style that called into question the negative stereotypes Americans often have about ‘memorization’ in Asian countries. The use of test scores as a measure of human potential is a controversial topic in our national news. I was definitely curious how Chinese students ace their tests so easily. Maybe, I thought, classrooms in China really are like student factories, pumping out perfect calculators. I could not have been more wrong.

Since my grant ended in 2013, I have excitedly told everyone within earshot that math education in China is much more than the ‘test culture’ we often hear it is. In China, I found a culture of participation inside classrooms and I watched young children work through failure with courage and persistence. By all my tests of good learning, Chinese classrooms were performing well.

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U.S. Fulbright

Rolling with the Punches: How My Project ‘Failure’ Turned into a Fulbright Success Story

November 9, 2015

Bryan Furman, 2013-2014, Tajikistan, (in front of class, in white shirt), leading a discussion on the importance of psycho-social support services

I wrote my Fulbright application “knowing” exactly what I would accomplish.

My advisers and I spent months drafting my Statement of Grant Purpose for a Fulbright U.S. Student Award to Tajikistan. I developed a project to apply my advanced Russian and Persian language proficiencies and four years of Central Asia area studies in tracking trends in Tajik foreign policy. Additionally, I secured a placement at the prestigious Tajik Academy of Sciences and made contact with leading Tajik scholars.

These well-laid plans fell apart about two months after starting my grant. In my proposal, I outlined how I would interview government representatives and review official documents to gain unprecedented insight into Tajik foreign affairs. Wishful thinking. Whatever access I expected never came—a problem I attributed to my lack of on-the-ground experience. With my project going nowhere, I felt I had in some way “failed” Fulbright.

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U.S. Fulbright

Journey to a Sacred Capital: My Fulbright Year in Morocco

October 26, 2015

Armaan Siddiqi, 2011-2012, Morocco, stands in the historic Tin Mal mosque in the High Atlas Mountains. The mosque, an architectural feat and current UNESCO world heritage site, was constructed in the twelfth century during the Almohad Dynasty to commemorate its famous ruler, Mohamad Ibn Tumart.

After navigating a series of sinuous allies in the sprawling labyrinth that is the old city of Fez, I finally arrive at my destination: the ornate shrine and mosque of Moulay Idriss II—the patron saint of Fez and son of the first ruler of Morocco. I breathe a deep sigh of relief: finally, I’ve found it! I tiptoe in, allowing the sights and sounds of the shrine to wash over me. I find a quiet corner and begin journal entry #1: “This is but the first of many sacred sites I aspire to visit while researching Islam in Morocco this year…”

Rereading the above excerpt, written four years ago as a wide-eyed Fulbright U.S. Student researcher in Morocco, fills me with immense nostalgia and gratitude; my Fulbright experience was, without any exaggeration, one of the most formative experiences of my life, personally and professionally. In delving deep into Islamic history and theology for my research, I not only deepened an understanding of my project (which examined the relationship between Muslim piety and Moroccan politics) but I also realized the tremendous diversity of Islam, and my fellow Muslims.

Living in Morocco as an American Muslim of Pakistani origin made for particularly interesting encounters. Casual conversations with Moroccans, other students and travelers from around the world routinely transformed into profound and passionate discussions on race, faith and politics in the U.S. and Middle East. Little did I realize then that these impromptu conversations would also contribute greatly to my research. Indeed, some of the greatest lessons during one’s Fulbright year arise from the most coincidental circumstances: a chance encounter with a Moroccan-American expatriate at an ATM machine in Fez, for example, led to an afternoon of hearing spooky djinn stories from his childhood with another Fulbright friend researching Moroccan folklore. Through my host institution—the Sidi Mohamad ben Abdallah University of Fez, I was connected with very helpful faculty and students who further enriched my research and invited me to collaborate with their exciting projects.

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U.S. Fulbright

English by Day, German by Night

October 19, 2015

Larena Nellies-Ortiz, 2013-2014, Fulbright English Teaching Assistant to Germany (right, in blue jacket), with a group of her sixth grade students on an excursion in Spandau, Berlin

On my last day as a Fulbright English Language Teaching Assistant (ETA) at the Paul Moor Elementary School in Berlin, Germany, the fifth and sixth grade classes shyly presented me with a colorful booklet. It was filled with students’ most memorable moments in my English class. Some wrote about the time they tried salty seaweed and chili sprinkled mango, and were charged with the task of guessing what they were called. Others remembered researching and leading a sightseeing tour through their neighborhood. During these activities, I noticed students who had shown little participation during regular class time were now fully engaged, attentive and willing to try their English in a new setting. As an ETA, I had the freedom to create engaging material that would resonate with students. Of course, I got my fair share of blank stares, as any teacher would have, but those moments were heavily outweighed by the countless times students stepped out of their comfort zone and into the possibility of genuine learning and exchange.

After school hours, I continued to teach, but in a different setting and language. I joined a group of dedicated volunteers to teach German to refugees through Multitude e.V., an organization that provides German language classes to refugees across Berlin. Drop-in evening lessons took place at the public housing where refugees lived, and on any given day, topics ranged from basic literacy skills, to practical tips on everyday life in Germany. My students and I found common ground in our shared experiences of navigating a society and culture different from our own. Participating in the Fulbright ETA Program gave me an opportunity to help create a foundation for cultural exchange and mutual understanding by integrating into the community and contributing my skills in a meaningful way. The stories and connections I shared with students were vital to revealing how our differences in origin, language and culture were a tool, rather than a barrier, to achieving our language learning goals.

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