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Global Understanding
GLOBAL
UNDERSTANDING
Vecteezy.com Fulbright student recipients Estefany Arenas ’19 and Malina Morales ’19 and Fred Lee ’17 are taking different paths to a common destination abroad.
BY MICHAEL CANDELARIA
Those three winners nearly double the university’s total of seven student recipients since 1970. Plus, a fourth Hatter is a semifinalist and awaiting word for a scholarship in the 2022 cycle.
The 2021 award winners are Estefany Arenas ’19 and Malina Morales ’19, while Fred Lee ’17 was awarded for 2020, with his Fulbright experience delayed because of the pandemic.
Garrett Zeiss ’22, part of Stetson’s Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies program, is the university’s only student to apply in the current Fulbright award cycle. At press time, there was no official announcement about his scholarship candidacy. Notably, his desired destination is Moldova, a small former Soviet state that is wedged between Ukraine and Romania.
Impressive student achievements?
“This is a really prestigious scholarship,” answers Martin Blackwell, PhD, a visiting professor of history who helps students with their Fulbright applications.
The Fulbright U.S. Student Program offers research, study and teaching opportunities in more than 140 countries to recent graduates and graduate students. During their grants, the students meet,
The simple math is difficult to deny: three for three. And perhaps it could be four for four, with that outcome still pending. We’re talking about three applicants from Stetson for a coveted Fulbright U.S. Student Program award — the only three Hatters to apply — and each becoming a scholarship recipient as part of Fulbright’s 2020 and 2021 award cycles.
work with, live with and learn from the people of their host country. The program facilitates exchanges through direct interaction in the classroom, field and home, and in routine tasks, allowing the students to gain an appreciation of others’ viewpoints and beliefs, as well as insight into residents’ daily lives.
The Fulbright Program was created in 1946 to increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries, with the primary source of funding being an annual appropriation made by the U.S. Congress to the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.
Each year, more than 2,200 U.S. students, along with 900 U.S. college and university faculty and administrators, are awarded Fulbright grants. In addition, approximately 4,000 Fulbright foreign students and visiting scholars come to the United States annually to study, lecture, conduct research, or teach their native language in U.S. institutions of higher education.
Stetson is now firmly part of the legacy.
“These students are rock stars!” asserts Roxanne Lewis, coordinator of International Student and Scholar Services at Stetson’s World: Rinker Center for International Learning.
“For many, many years, Stetson had no Fulbright student awards. Now, three in two years’ time!” adds Bill Nylen, PhD, professor of political science and Stetson’s campus coordinator for the Fulbright student program. “This is an incredible outcome.”
In addition to the Fulbright experiences, which typically are eight to 10 months in length, the students receive, among numerous other benefits, round-trip transportation to the host country; funding to cover room, board and incidental costs; full or partial tuition; book and research allowances; language study programs; and 12 months of noncompetitive eligibility hiring status within the federal government.
The students, however, are anticipating even richer returns.
Estefany Arenas
With COVID-19 delaying travel for all, Arenas was the first of the Stetson students to depart, arriving in Asturias, Spain, in September.
Arenas, who majored in international studies with minors in political science, Latin American studies and community engagement, is an English teaching assistant.
Growing up, she was an English learner herself, having immigrated to the United States from Mexico when she was 7. Her mother was a farmworker, and nearly all of her ancestors were from Spain.
“I quickly became a reliable translator and an English teacher for my mother all in one,” says Arenas. “My upbringing consisted of finding the best diagrams, analogies and books so that regardless of our learning style, my siblings, my mother and I always found the best ways to communicate in English.”
A Bonner Scholar at Stetson, Arenas interned at an elementary school near the campus, helping children and their parents learn English. She created interactive YouTube videos to accommodate the different language learning styles of students, and translated a weekly newsletter to increase parental involvement.
“My desire to understand Spain and my devotion to helping others in their journeys shaped my passion for education,” she explained in her written application for the Fulbright scholarship. “In Spain, through teaching, art and service, I would finally immerse myself into the world of my ancestors and, likewise, work towards a better exchange of ideas and perspectives between American and Spanish cultures. The experience would unquestionably strengthen my character and prepare me to continue my professional interests in immigration, education, and international studies in graduate school.”
In March, after six months abroad, Arenas had this to say about both the adventure and the education: “Asturias is an incredible placement. I have spent a lot of time exploring, hiking and enjoying fresh air. I’ve been working closely with two high schools, and at one of them the students and I have started a student-led volunteer program. The students and I meet on a biweekly basis to discuss how to better connect their community’s needs, career aspirations and involvement.”
Malina Morales
Morales received bachelor’s degrees in psychology and digital arts, and she was an Army ROTC cadet who became a second lieutenant (serving in the Medical Service Corps as a reservist). On March 14, she traveled to Argentina, which was the first Latin American country to legalize same-sex marriage, thus offering a “unique opportunity to learn about the progress of the Latinx LGBT community.”
“Learning about the population’s view of the LGBT movement will allow me to understand my country’s legislations and influences moving forward,” explains Morales, who hopes to incorporate the cultural insight gained in Argentina into her professional psychiatric practice at home. “As a Fulbright ETA [English teaching assistant], I would also share my background with students and the local community to facilitate a cultural exchange of ideas.”
At Stetson, Morales worked as a teaching assistant on campus in psychology and completed a one-semester psychology internship at a nearby school. After graduation, she earned a TESOL certificate, which qualified her to work as an English instructor for Chinese and Taiwanese students varying in age.
Although her father is Venezuelan, seeking to fully assimilate in America, he didn’t share much of his culture or Spanish language with the family. Morales now speaks “intermediate” Spanish and wants to learn about her heritage. She calls the Fulbright award “a miracle” and quickly adds, “Of course, I want to give back and help people learn English.”
“I could organize fitness-training activities, healthy cooking classes, and/or painting workshops,” she cited in her Fulbright application. “For my Supplementary Project, I would explore Argentina’s history with LGBT rights. With powerful Catholic influences along with a history of military dictatorship, Argentina understands the importance of democratic secularization. Activists have played a major role by requesting referendums. Recently, change has been demanded after the murders of transgender people. Laws now allow individuals to change their gender legally and require the documentation of hate crimes. Cities actively work with LGBT organizations like the Federacion Argentina de LGBT, a national nonprofit that promotes activism and a group I would like to join. This would provide me with insightful ways to address homophobia and inequality in the US’s Latino community.”
Fred Lee
Lee’s passion for language acquisition and cultural understanding was nurtured by majoring in Spanish, studying abroad in Chile and working as an ambassador for the WORLD: Rinker Center for International Learning at Stetson.
Lee also followed his passion with work as a member of AmeriCorps, where he learned “how to bridge the gap between what students need and what schools can provide in areas of concentrated poverty at the high school level,” he noted in his Fulbright application.
On April 1, he left for the Universidade Federal de Uberlândia in Minas Gerais, Brazil.
As an English teaching assistant there, he will seek to “incorporate my instructional training and experience while designing lesson plans tailored to my students’ abilities” — employing real-life scenarios and cultural competencies, among other components.
“I look forward to developing an understanding of the pedagogical traditions that help to serve a diverse community of learners,” Lee continued in his Fulbright Statement of Purpose.
“While I am in Brazil, I will become part of the community through singing and volunteering to teach English. I am a classically trained vocalist who has been part of many choirs since I was a child. I am eager to join one in Brazil and learn local music. I will volunteer to teach English with an organization similar to Cidadão PróMundo to provide educational opportunities for underserved populations. Furthermore, as a representative of the United States, I will advance international awareness through cultural presentations and discussions, both in the school and the community.”
Lee concedes that, ironically, he wasn’t a good communicator growing up.
“When I was still very young, my parents told me they were divorcing and wanted to know how I felt. I could not articulate how
profoundly hurt I was,” he recalls. “The only thing I was able to say was, ‘Okay.’ I felt like I did not have a voice. As a result, I learned to listen.”
And he learned about exploration.
“While my parents told stories of the places they had visited, I listened rapt with wonder,” he adds. “I was particularly interested in my mother’s stories of her travels in Latin America, where she would become part of the local communities she visited. She did not stay in a resort but rather haggled over prices in the bustling markets and made friends with her neighbors. It was clear to me even then that she had a more genuine experience because she dived headfirst into the local culture.”
Now, like Stetson’s other two Fulbright recipients, Lee is taking that leap of faith.
APPLYING IS WORTH THE EFFORT
The Fulbright U.S. Student Program is only one of several distinguished scholarships and fellowships available to students at Stetson. Another honor went to Skye Cronje, who received a 2021 Newman Civic Fellowship.
Cronje is a junior majoring in world languages and cultures. She was honored by virtue of passionate advocacy for human rights — working to strengthen immigration programs for immigrant families and unaccompanied minors in Central Florida.
Such awards fund undergraduate tuition, study abroad and postgraduate research, among others. The awards are highly competitive, with selections by a variety of organizations based on a long list of criteria. They include academic or professional record, personal qualifications, language preparation, and extent to which the candidate and the project will help to advance the Fulbright aim of promoting mutual understanding. As a result, the application process and evaluation are lengthy.
Nonetheless, Stetson has a proven track record of having professors prepare students for such pursuits. And students are highly encouraged to make the effort, starting as early as possible on campus.
“It’s never too early to start planning and thinking about their application. … I try to encourage those younger students especially to think long term, to plan ahead and to not be intimidated,” says Grace Kaletski, assistant professor and Learning and Information Literacy librarian, who works to promote the scholarship opportunities to students.
Even if students aren’t selected for an award, the effort is worthwhile, Kaletski adds, commenting, “It’s still going to be an invaluable learning experience for them. They’ll be putting a résumé together, maybe for the first time, and they’ll be writing a personal statement — writing and working with advisers to reflect on their goals. It’s not a waste of time.”
Visiting Professor Martin Blackwell, PhD, agrees, while also advocating preparation.
“The earlier students can get interested, the better,” Blackwell says. “This is about more than academics. Tutoring helps; community work helps. What are your skill sets and your intellectual sets, and what is your ambition? What will you bring back to the U.S.? These answers are needed to get the committees’ approvals.”
