How to Stop Being a Control Freak and Get a Fulbright Grant, By Krystal Banzon, 2007-2008, Philippines

I was a little bit of a control freak. (I’m better now.)

When I barely entered the ivory tower, I wanted to know what I was going to do after graduation. As a freshman at Smith College, I had heard of the Fulbright U.S. Student Program through my college’s Fellowship Program Office. I did research online, read through the Fulbright U.S. Student Program’s website and decided that getting a fellowship was the perfect way to wrap up my undergraduate experience and begin my life in the real world!

After thoroughly reading through several available Internet resources, I decided that I wanted to apply for a study/research grant. To where? It didn’t matter. I wanted a Fulbright grant. I stressed over the right classes to take for the non-existent research project I was trying to map out. I loved academic tracks, so I set myself on a government and women’s studies double major track. I brainstormed, drew charts, obsessed about solidifying premature ideas of maybe researching sex trafficking somewhere in Asia (that’s popular!), or perhaps some sort of policy governmental thing in Latin America (a lot goes on there, right?). Little did I know I was spinning my wheels in the mud, wanting something for all the wrong reasons - and getting nowhere fast.

Good thing I got sidetracked…

As my college years flew by, my passions and interests began to reveal themselves. I began to drop my government classes and started to take theatre classes. All of a sudden, what I thought was an extracurricular activity became my main interest, passion, and focus. I would skip joyously between my women’s studies courses and the directing lab for rehearsal. Unknowingly, I had opened up to changing my academic direction; my train had jumped off the track. Funnily enough, I was still moving along! In turn, I had forgotten about the half-hearted projects I once tried to force into fruition.

At the end of my junior year, I was chosen by the Theatre Department to direct one of the three main stage plays during the following school year. My interdisciplinary interests in studying race, culture and performance led me to become passionate about plays with cultural narratives, the history of colonization, stories about people of color, the importance of identity as well as performances about identity. I chose to direct Jessica Hagedorn’s Dogeaters, a play about martial law in the Philippines.

Then, the summer before my senior year, my Fulbright research project fell into my lap.

I wanted to study theatre in the Philippines. When I began to honestly and truly think about what moved me and what I was passionate about, everything suddenly became clear. I began my application that summer with the help of my campus Fulbright Program Adviser (FPA) and a faculty mentor. Because I was already working on something I cared about, the resources were right at my fingertips. In preparation for my play, I contacted an international student from the Philippines, and she directed me to her former theater professor in Manila. Through this professor, I was able to request a host affiliation letter from the chair and artistic director of the Theatre Department at the University of the Philippines Diliman. I furiously worked on my application in between classes and my show rehearsals. As I wrote my study/research grant statement, I began to get a feeling of accomplishment because my Fulbright application was helping me to connect the dots between my passions and goals.

I get a lot of questions from current students at my alma mater about how to apply for a Fulbright: How do you choose a country? How do you create a project for a research grant?

I can make two suggestions:

1) Start early. Maybe you can pump out a study/research grant statement in two weeks, but it is impossible to obtain affiliation letters from your host institution unless you start early - especially if you’re applying to a country where access to the Internet, email, and faxes might be limited. You might have to write actual letters (remember snail mail?) or wait for mailed letters to be sent back to you.

2) Your project will come to you when it’s ready. You have to be honest with yourself. Follow your passions! Let go. Keep doing what you are crazy about. Your country of interest will be come clearer, and the research questions you want to explore will begin formulate.

To quote my alma mater’s fellowship website, “Applying for a fellowship requires a degree of soul searching.” It’s true. It’s unnecessary hard work to do work on a subject if you’re not interested in it. Make your fellowship application process a little easier on yourself and let go.

Photo: Krystal Banzon (right), 2007-2008, Philippines, in Baguio City.

Applying to the Fulbright U.S. Student Program, By Katie Ladewski, 2005-2006, Chile

I was drawn to the Fulbright Program because I identified with the program’s character. I am an intellectual. I am a civic participant and volunteer. I am a student. I am a family member and a friend. I represent my university and my community wherever I go. I have a strong sense of who I am, and I realized that the Fulbright U.S. Student Program emphasized the values I hoped to cultivate.

There are a lot of exciting opportunities out there for recent graduates and budding intellectuals. We can apply for scholarships to study at top universities around the world. We can volunteer in places from South America to the South Pacific and everywhere in between. The Fulbright Program, however, captured my imagination with its promise of a unique combination of cultural exchange, community involvement, and intellectual growth. I’m sure all of the programs I considered would have been amazing opportunities, but the Fulbright Program’s goals reflected the kind of experience I hoped to have and the kind of person I aspired to be.

It also helped that the Fulbright Program had a thriving exchange program with Chile, a country in which I had a keen interest. I had studied abroad in Santiago and had written an undergraduate honors thesis on the Chilean education system. In the ten weeks I spent in Chile during my study abroad program in Santiago, I had thrown myself into life with my Chilean host family, my classes, and my research. But the time was too short, and I left feeling like I had so much more to give and to learn.

The Fulbright Program offered a unique opportunity for me to return to Chile and pursue a more in-depth research project while immersing myself in Chilean life. I had studied economics as an undergrad and had always been interested in education. Studying Chile's education voucher system presented an exciting opportunity to merge these two interests. Because one of the most hotly debated issues in Chile is how to improve educational opportunities for vulnerable students around the country, I chose to focus on the inequality in educational resource distribution among students from different socioeconomic backgrounds. I spent three days a week doing quantitative research at a university and two days observing and volunteering in schools throughout Santiago, and later in my project, throughout Chile.

My research was a primary reason for my stay in Chile, but I was heartened to know that spending time with my host family, talking with students and teachers during my research project, volunteering with rural children, and competing on a swim team were all considered respectable and worthwhile. The Fulbright Program valued the parts of my experience I valued – everything.

The Fulbright Program is an intense commitment of time and energy. A successful experience requires hard work, perseverance, patience, flexibility, and a sense of humor. But it is also an experience that will help you evolve into the kind of intellectual, civic participant, volunteer, student, family member, friend and community ambassador you hope to become. If you’re anything like me, I can promise you that the Fulbright experience will change your life.

Photo: Katie Ladewski (right) with students in rural Chile, 2006.

An Alumna's Perspective: Applying for a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship (ETA) Grant, By Amber Rydberg, 2007-2008, South Korea ETA

Pictured: Amber Rydberg, 2007-2008 South Korea ETA (left) with Mrs. Shim, the KAEC/Fulbright Korea Executive Director on a Fulbright Korea ETA weekend retreat at Songnisan National Park

At the beginning of my senior year, I was aware of the Fulbright Program and what grants were available. Or so I thought. I knew there were research grants for those who had serious passions for very specific topics, of which I felt I had none. There was also a Fulbright Teacher Exchange Program for seasoned teachers, but I was just about to graduate from my undergraduate institution and not yet a teacher. And, there were grants for scholars, but I was also not one of those. Thus, in my mind, Fulbright, along with so many other fellowships available to soon-to-be graduates, sat on an out-of-reach pedestal.

Fulbright was removed from that unreachable pedestal when I was gearing up for a half-marathon with a friend. We touched upon every topic including the ominous, “So, what are you thinking of doing after graduation?” question. I wanted to go back to South Korea for the first time since my adoption and teach English for a year. That is when I heard about the Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship (ETA) grant for the first time. My friend told me she was applying for a Fulbright ETA grant to Taiwan. At her urging (and I will be forever indebted to her), she suggested I visit www.us.fulbrightonline.org and look into the ETA grants to South Korea.

I knew what I was looking for in my abroad experience from a previous stay in China. I worked in Beijing during the summer of 2006, and while there, I lived with a home-stay family: a mom, dad, and 9-year old daughter. I tutored my home-stay family’s daughter weekly and learned so much from her about life in China. Inspired by that experience, it became apparent that if I went to South Korea, I would want to teach English at the elementary school level. I would also want an opportunity to live with a home-stay family and to be immersed in the culture to learn as much as possible.

I spent hours on the Internet over the next few days researching ETA grants to South Korea and stumbled upon many useful resources. The most useful to me were the country summaries on the Fulbright U.S. Student Program website, the South Korea page and the South Korean Commission’s website. Some countries have Fulbright Commissions, and, South Korea is one of them. The South Korean Fulbright Commission’s website had answers to questions I hadn’t yet thought of. From orientation and home-stay information, to organized workshops and gatherings for grantees, the role the Commission plays, and ETA handbooks from previous years, the Korean Fulbright Commission’s website had a wealth of information waiting to be discovered by applicants like myself. It was a great way for me to decide if the Fulbright ETA grant was the right Fulbright grant for me.

My advice to prospective applicants: Start researching and thinking about the grant(s) you’re interested in early. There are ample resources available to you online: webinars and guidance sessions, videos, podcasts, Commission websites and the Fulbright U.S. Student Program website can help you to decide which grant you’re most interested in. It is important to understand the grant you’re applying for and what it entails before you start preparing your application. If you’re applying for an ETA grant, think about how you can be a cultural ambassador inside and outside the classroom while pursuing your own interests. If you’re interested in arts, maybe you’ll volunteer at an arts center. Do you like games? If so, maybe you’ll volunteer at an orphanage. Are sports your thing? Maybe you’ll join or coach a local soccer team, or begin learning a local, traditional sport. Like music? Learn to play a traditional instrument or join a chorus. There are many options. The project proposal is where you’ll want to clearly describe the passion you’re pursuing, what fuels that passion, as well as how your interests can guide you in your free time. Once you’ve written your proposal, have your peers, professors, and/or family members give you feedback. You don’t want to submit your application with any careless typos or spelling mistakes.

My Experience with the Fulbright Application, By Justin Silvestri, 2007-2008, France ETA

Trying to remember the exact moment I decided I wanted to go back to France produces a blur of memories: my return to college, Christmas dinner, whenever I wrote, read, or spoke French. But, I’d like to think that I made that decision the moment I stepped off the plane. What motivated me to make that decision was a growing desire to learn more. I felt that, during my three months studying in Rennes as an undergraduate, I had only seen a glimpse of the world that France had to offer. By the time my French reached a level where I comfortably express myself for extended periods of time, there was only one month left before I had to return to the United States.So, in the months that followed my return, I asked my professors what programs could provide me the opportunity to return to France and discover what I had tantalizingly seen just beyond that horizon. Their answer was unanimous; the Fulbright U.S. Student Program.

At first, I was encouraged to apply for a Fulbright Full Research or Study grant to France. My professors pushed me to develop a project over the summer and submit a proposal that following fall. Although I appreciated their advice and took it to heart, there was something that held me back. This reluctance was likely born out of my need for independence, a stubborn insistence that I make my own path. As I did my research on the various programs that the Fulbright U. S. Student Program offered, I noticed that France offered Fulbright English Teaching Assistantships for Americans with B.A. degrees or equivalent to teach in French high schools. Being an aspiring professor of European history, the chance to teach in France seemed too good of an opportunity to pass by. Now, I had a goal and a path to get me there.

The application process for the Fulbright U.S. Student Program was labor intensive but, nevertheless, a labor of love. I began the application process early that September and soon discovered that it was an art, not a science. Many applicants, I believe, can be easily overwhelmed or distracted by concerns over GPA, the name of their respective schools and the weight that they carry, or the signatures that are written at the bottom of their letters of recommendation. What I think many overlook is that the Fulbright U.S. Student Program is much more interested in you, your character, your talents, and your dreams rather than the names and numbers that you are associated with. Use your statement of purpose and your narrative statement to convey your personality and your talents. Your application is meant to be a portrait, a mini-biography designed to give a brief taste of who you are. If you are truly guided by passions and allow them to be visible in your application, then you will know that you have produced something worthwhile and that others will recognize this too.

Picture: Justin Silvestri at the Lycée Évariste Galois, Class Presentation during Carnivale, 2008.

My Fulbright in Kingston, By Afreen Akhter, 2006-2007, Jamaica

I stepped into Kingston, Jamaica after a rigorous bout in the concrete jungle of New York City. I was completely thrown. I’d never inhabited a place where I was caught in so much earth. Mountains stretched above me on every horizon, and the roads were lined with greenery so vivid I swore I was awash in a painting.

As I grew to know the country better, I became more aware of the stark mix of prosperity and poverty in Kingston. The dichotomy is aggravated because of Kingston's size. In this tiny urban sphere, I witnessed the most intense economic disparity on a daily basis.

Afreen Akhter, 2006-2007, Jamaica

My project was to study the use of theater as a vehicle for social empowerment and inter- and intra-community peace building. Alongside my independent research, I worked with a phenomenal theater collective called SISTREN. SISTREN was born in the infant climate of “democratic socialism” of the late 1970’s. It originated in the thick of a political system that supported grassroots movements and rediscovered the voice and power of the working class. For years, SISTREN was able to produce edgy, provocative theater that challenged conventional notions of “women.” Given the innumerable twists and turns of the Jamaican political climate, SISTREN has struggled and succeeded in the many years since its founding. My work with them focused on program outreach.

With the aid of the vibrant founders of SISTREN (who often fly about the main office screeching American oldies at the top of their lungs), I worked in the poorest parts of Kingston. I spent most of my time as a director of a women’s drama group in a community called Hannah Town. The Hannah Town women were, invariably, a combative, lively bunch. Most rehearsals had moments of violent outbursts, either verbal or physical in nature, which became easier to mitigate with time. Ironically, their real fire came out in those performance moments.

I remember my first street theater performance with them quite vividly. They stepped out of bounds of their enclave to an adjacent ghetto, clad in costumes that were bright and revealing. Despite the decades of conflict between the two ghettos and the innumerable lives lost on both sides, they performed on the opposing ghetto’s raw streets. In those minutes, their passion and love of the craft became truly apparent. The response was unbelievable. The opposing ghetto thronged the pseudo-stage and cried praise throughout. At the end, both communities came together to discuss the piece’s social import and share dinner. It was a profound moment.

Since then, they performed on many other streets, for the Prime Minister, the leader of the opposition party, and have many performances to come. Alongside Hannah Town, I attempted to start up similar theater groups in other Kingston ghettos, and implement literacy projects with members of the collectives. My time as a Fulbrighter, which continues to live on with me, was momentous.