5 receive grants for international work/study

This has been a banner year for Skidmore students in the Fulbright arena: three students have received Fulbright awards for post-graduate work/study abroad and two additional students have received grants similar to a Fulbright for international English teaching assistantships.

In addition, a Skidmore alumna was designated an alternate Fulbright winner.

Fulbright winners from the Class of 2011 are Michelle Bourassa, who received a teaching assistantship that will take her to Germany; Korena Burgio, teaching assistantship to Korea; and Sarah Green, Fulbright research grant for study in Argentina. Bryce Klatsky received a U.S. Teaching Assistantship to teach in Austrian secondary schools and James Yick received a French Government Teaching Assistantship. Susan Breyer '10 was named an alternate for a Fulbright research award to Paraguay.

Commenting on this year's bumper crop of awardees, Fulbright Advisor Maria Lander, associate professor of Spanish, said, "We had more people applying than any other year because we publicized it more. Also during the last three years we have always have a recipient, so I guess that helps students to see the pursuing of the grants as something worthwhile."

She added, "I see it as a reflection on the success of the faculty in promoting the value and the importance of going abroad, of the necessity to truly understand what global citizenship means. The Fulbright Scholars are cultural ambassadors and at the same time that they take a lot from the experience they are giving, too. All our students are what any American would like to see representing their culture: academically successful, respectful and curious about other cultures, friendly, diverse."

Lander noted that the Fulbright students have strong foreign language skills. "Knowing a second language has certainly paid off for them," she said, adding, "We prepared them to master those languages and we did it right!" 

Michelle Bourassa, a Saratoga Springs resident, believes that her experience tutoring students in Russian and German here will be helpful as she begins a Fulbright year teaching English to German students. A high honors student, she is a dual major in International Affairs and German with a focus in history. 

When she leaves for Germany to begin her Fulbright year in September, it will be her first time abroad.

The Saratoga Springs graduate credits high school Latin teacher Elthea Sadlon with sparking her love of language. "She's the bomb," said Bourassa, who studied Latin four years and received the high school's Veni, Vidi, Vici Award upon graduation. In addition to tutoring older students, Bourassa also was a volunteer teacher at the Greenfield Elementary School, where she taught German to younger students participating in a weekly program that met before the school day started. Her students ranged in age from kindergarten to fifth grade, and the experience made her aware of the challenges of teaching students of varied ages and abilities.

Korena Burgio, a native of South Korea whose family lives in Hawaii, will return to South Korea to teach English. She anticipates a year of teaching and learning. In her application she wrote, "I want to discover what it means to be American by sharing my culture with Koreans, and I want to understand what it means to be Korean by having them share their culture with me."

An Environmental Studies major and a top student, Burgio went to Copenhagen, Denmark, last summer to present collaborative research she completed in a Skidmore biology course. She also studied in Australia during her Skidmore career. She has been active in environmental issues and athletics?she served as the captain of the Skidmore women's crew this year. 

The daughter of a South Korean mother and an American father, Burgio says "growing up between cultures has made me aware of cultural nuances and the challenges posed by completely integrating into another culture." She is looking forward to reconnecting with family members (uncles and an aunt) during her Fulbright year.

Sarah Green, a resident of Pinehurst, N.C., is an International Affairs/Spanish double major with an Environmental Studies minor. She will combine her academic interests in her Fulbright project, titled "Changing representations of environmental issues in Argentine literature." Green will investigate the evolution of environmental thought in Argentina by studying a number of different literary texts and journals to track the growth of the environmental movement in a country that is in the midst of development. She will be based at the National University of La Plata.

Green spent her junior year in Argentina and in Panama. On the Skidmore campus she has been involved with the Environmental Action Club (she twice participated in the national Powershift conference) and worked in the Foreign Languages and Literatures Department. During her student career she spent two summers in Saratoga Springs - one to work in the student garden and the other working as a North Woods steward. She also has been a volunteer with the backstretch workers at the Saratoga Race Course. 

Two students, Bryce Klatsky and James Yick, received teaching assistantships that are similar to Fulbrights in terms of promoting mutual understanding between different countries but are not actual Fulbright awards.

Klatsky, a history major and English literature minor with a strong interest in classical music, will teach high school students in Waibhofen an der Ybbs, near Salzburg, Austria. He is eagerly looking forward to the experience and hopes that he will also have a chance to pursue his love of music while there, perhaps by joining a local choir.

The Westbury, N.Y., resident studied voice for three semesters with Anne Zwick Turner and performed earlier this month in the Faur Requiem, which was the centerpiece of the spring concert by the Skidmore Community Chorus and Vocal Chamber Ensemble. Many people know Klatsky from his work with the Drastic Measures, Skidmore's co-ed a cappella singing group known for its work with charity organizations. He was the guiding force behind a March concert of campus and community singers that helped raise $1,000 for ASPIRe, N.Y., a local organization that provides opportunities for teens and young adults with autism spectrum disorders. 

Yick, who hails from Somerset, N.J., received a teaching assistantship administered by the French government thorough its Ministry of Education. The French/International Affairs dual major said that the grant assigned him to the Acad mie de Lyon.

While at Skidmore, Yick has been active in a number of co-curricular pursuits, including varsity crew, which he served as captain; the Center for Sex and Gender Studies, where he was a peer advocate; and the Skidmore Pride Alliance. He was a member of the Skidmore Orchestra for seven semesters and spent a semester in Paris during his junior year. In addition, he was a peer tutor for the Foreign Languages and Literatures Department and the Department of Health and Exercise Science.

And here's an update on a previous Fulbright awardee: Kyle Carey '08, who won a fellowship to study in Cape Breton, Canada, has just released her debut recording. Click here for details.