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Five students set to travel for Fulbright

May 1, 2009

By Sommer Ingram
Staff writer

Five Baylor students have been selected to serve in various countries around the world as Fulbright Scholars. Ashley Killough, Charlie Manzanares, Alex Nix, Aaron Reynolds and Megan Rizos are the recipients of the award.

The Fulbright, a highly competitive program that operates in over 155 countries, provides government-funded grants for graduate research or English-teaching abroad assistantships. Scholars are chosen for their academic merit and leadership qualities, and will have the opportunity to conduct research and contribute to finding solutions to shared international concerns.

"As Fulbright representative for Baylor, I was exceedingly proud of all the students whose applications were sent forward," said Dr. Elizabeth Vardaman, associate dean of the college of arts and sciences. "The students will represent America and the Fulbright program exceedingly well and will build positive relationships within all the communities where they will serve, teach and pursue research."

Baylor had a record number of applicants for the Fulbright program this school year, with a total of 20 students completing the application process which includes writing two essays, getting professor recommendations, becoming proficient at a new language and proposing a project.

Killough, a senior from Plano, will be in Armenia working as a research intern at the Caucasus Media Institute in the capital city of Yerevan. During her time there, she will be studying the role of the blogosphere in the 2008 U.S. presidential election.

Her interest in Armenia began with a professor, Artyom Tonoyan, who talked a lot about the Armenian Genocide in his class.

"Armenia is the first Christian nation and is in an interesting location because it's a Christian nation surrounded by mostly Muslim nations," Killough said. "Originally I wanted to try to study Armenian-Iranian relations but after doing more research, I decided to look into something fresher."

Killough will be interning at the Chronicle of Higher Education in Washington, D.C., this summer, and hopes to return to the city one day to cover government and policy. She also hopes the Fulbright will lead to opportunities in international journalism.

"This experience will be challenging as I am learning Armenian right now and it's very different from English," Killough said. "I look forward to meeting the people and experiencing the Armenian culture. I've always wanted to be immersed in a non-Western perspective."

Nix, a senior Spanish major from Riesel, will spend the year in Brazil as an English teaching assistant.

"The world is becoming more and more global," she said. "Brazil is an up and coming economic power. Especially since I want to teach in the future, this is a great way to make global contacts and become much more well-rounded."

Nix spent a semester abroad in Spain, so she is already familiar with the Spanish-speaking culture.

"Within a month of being in Madrid, I was looked at as one of their own citizens. I look forward to fitting in with the Brazilian culture in that same way," she said.

"I feel like there is more poverty in Brazil, and I can have a lot more of an impact there in a lot of regions."

Manzanares, who is a post-baccalaureate student, will spend next year in Spain. Instead of teaching, he will be conducting comparative institutional economic research on the business formations of Spain, Venezuela and the United States.

"This is a life-changing professional opportunity exactly in the field I was hoping to land in with one of the best researchers in this particular field," he said. "For me, on top of being in Spain and interacting with the people and the culture, I'll be working abroad where some of the best research in this filed is going on. I couldn't imagine a better opportunity right now."

Since he comes from a Venezuelan family, Manzanares is interested in applying some of the research he does in Spain to developing economies.

"Connecting with different cultures is very important," he said. "I think it's just really important for us to realize there is a world out there besides the one that we know here in Waco and in the United States."

After the Fulbright, Manzanares plans to get a Ph.D. in economics and teach in an economics department or at a law or business school.

Reynolds, a senior from Grapevine, will spend the next academic year in France as an English teaching assistant. Before going to graduate school to get a degree in French, Reynolds wanted to take a year off.

"I thought this would be a good opportunity to use the skills my major has given me, to take the things I've learned here to another level," Reynolds said. "You can only learn so much in a classroom. I think it's really crucial to be able to go to another culture because you can teach and learn at the same time."

Reynolds proposed to have the older students he will be working with to teach the younger students.

"That way they will gain a better command of the English language," Reynolds said. "I'm really excited about being on the other side of the classroom. There is a lot I think you can learn from teaching. Being immersed in the culture and learning from the people will help me come back here with a greater appreciation."

Rizos, a senior from Lucas, will spend next year in Spain as well as a teaching assistant.

"The most exciting thing for me will be becoming completely fluent in Spanish," she said. "That's going to be crucial for me. I want to be a bilingual speech pathologist, and the only way I can do that is through complete immersion."

In her application, Rizos focused primarily on her future goal to be a bilingual speech pathologist.

"Dean Vardaman said it was very different and that being different hopefully would help," she said. "You want to have a voice and personality in your application, and she helped me structure that."

All of the applicants agree that Vardaman was an instrumental part of this process.

"She is one of the most elegant, thoughtful and witty persons I have ever met, and people should get to know her whether they are applying for the Fulbright or not," Killough said. "This would not have been possible without the nurturing and encouraging support of Baylor's faculty and staff."

For students interested in international programs, Vardaman will be holding come-and-go seminars next Monday and Tuesday afternoons, May 4 and 5, from 2 to 5 p.m. in 205 Morrision Hall.

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