Four St. Thomas students, Makaio Goods, Anna Strub, Emilia Fredrickson and Kara Reardon, have been named semifinalists for the U.S. Fulbright Student Program, an international cultural and educational exchange program sponsored by the U.S. government.

With over 11,000 applicants this year, the 2021-22 year has been one of the most competitive rounds for Fulbright yet. The Fulbright Program awards grants to roughly 2,000 U.S. students annually. Semifinalists will find out by April or May if they are chosen as an awardee for the upcoming year.

“We are very fortunate to have four semifinalists this year, which is a big number for our institution to have,” Director of Prestigious International Scholarships Judith Dorin said.

During their time as a Fulbrighter, students are able to work and meet, live with and experience culture with the people of the host country.

The Fulbright Student Program supplies grants for students either working on an individually designed study research project or working with the English Teaching Assistant Programs.

Emilia Fredrickson ’20 is one of the Fulbright Semifinalists (Photo courtesy of Emilia Fredrickson)

 

Emilia Fredrickson

Emilia Fredrickson, who graduated from St. Thomas in December 2020, applied to the English Teaching Assistant Program to teach English in Argentina.

Fredrickson was introduced to the Fulbright program by a Fulbrighter from Venezuela who was a teaching assistant in her Spanish class.

“I had the chance to converse with her and find out a little bit more about the program, and she strongly recommended that I would look into it, both because of my interest in Spanish and language learning in general,” Fredrickson said.

Students spend time teaching English in college or university settings and also travel to immerse themselves in a new community and culture.

“Some of the things I talked about in my application that I’d be interested in would be doing some service and volunteering, so I was hoping to get involved either with immigration and asylum seekers,” Fredrickson said.

Fredrickson also expressed interest in volunteering for ending hunger and working on nutritional projects.One main reason Fredrickson wanted to apply for this program includes the experience that this grant could provide.

“The main thing that made me want to apply for this is just thinking about what a life-changing experience it would be to get to share the language learning experience in Argentina, specifically. I think what excites me so much about Argentina is because it’s like a huge cultural epicenter with a melting pot of people and cultures,” Fredrickson said.

Fredrickson says her Spanish teachers and the staff in the Spanish department encouraged her to apply for this competitive grant. She also had great experiences with Spanish tutors and some Fulbrighters in the United States from other countries.

“I saw this really positive and fun active, living, breathing side of language learning that I hadn’t seen in the past, and I think that for me was where everything sort of unlocked and I finally hit that point with my Spanish abilities to be able to be communicative,” Fredrickson said.

Anna Strub ’21 is one of the Fulbright semifinalists (Photo courtesy of Anna Strub)

 

Anna Strub

Senior Anna Strub applied for the Student Teaching Assistantship grant to teach English in Spain.

Double majoring in English with a professional writing emphasis and Spanish, Strub loves language and saw Fulbright as an opportunity to continue her language learning experience.

“If I do receive this grant, I will be teaching English in a local school and also running some sort of community ed program while I’m there really just to connect with the language and also be a proponent of the English language with the cultural exchange,” Strub said.

Strub plans to enrich herself in a new culture by focusing on a community program.

“It’d be a sort of book club and within that book club, we would look at international authors of color, really just focusing on diverse perspectives and using that as a way to use language in and of itself to facilitate conversation and understanding of different worlds,” Strub said.

Strub thanks her English and Spanish professors for enhancing her experiences with both languages.

“The departments have really encouraged me to find different opportunities to engage both of those majors, and so Fulbright is certainly one that does that very well, so I’ve had a lot of support from different faculty members,” Strub said.

Already having studied abroad in Spain during her study at St. Thomas, Strub recognizes the importance of cultural exchange.

“Understanding local exchanges and cultural traditions is going to be such an opportunity full of growth, and I’m really excited to simply be there and be able to be part of that exchange,” Strub said.

Kara Reardon

Graduating from St. Thomas in May 2020, Kara Reardon applied for a grant allowing her to conduct an independent research study in Colombia.

Reardon majored in biology and minored in Spanish, which contributed to her love of science and fueled her passion for the Spanish language.

“I was interested in doing a research project through Fulbright just because I’ve always loved doing field research and biology research,” Reardon said.

Students applying for the independent research study part of Fulbright work with a lab in a country of their choice and conduct a research project.

“I made a connection with this lab that’s in Bogota, Colombia, and they have been working with farmers in their area for a while on sustainable agriculture, and their big focus is soil health and focusing on microbes in the soil,” Reardon said.

Reardon’s interest in sustainable agriculture and soil health pushed her to look more into Fulbright and apply for the agriculture research study.

“I think the most exciting part right now is that I was able to make connections with people who are already doing this work and I think that is so cool,” Reardon said.

Reardon also wants to use this opportunity to give her more confidence and knowledge in the field of microbiology.

“I haven’t grown my experience much, but to make those connections and to have the opportunity to be so close to actually continuing this kind of research, that’s just really exciting to me,” Reardon said.

The biggest influences on Reardon that pushed her to apply for this program were her biology professors.

“I think without the support of St. Thomas faculty and professors, I wouldn’t have probably even applied and had as good of an application as I did,” Reardon said.

All semifinalists thanked Dorin for her help in the application process and acknowledged her as a contributing factor to their success.

Dorin emphasized the importance of this program and encouraged future students to look into applying to Fulbright. Applying to Fulbright allows students to learn more about application processes and step out of their comfort zone, Dorin said.

“Fulbright allows students to develop more as a young professional and allows students to be in a positive environment for learning,” Dorin said.

Makaio Goods wished not to be interviewed.

Natalie Hoepner can be reached at hoep8497@stthomas.edu.