{"id":7239,"date":"2019-04-02T10:04:00","date_gmt":"2019-04-02T14:04:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/earlhamcollege.wpengine.com\/?p=7239"},"modified":"2021-03-26T10:13:03","modified_gmt":"2021-03-26T14:13:03","slug":"three-earlham-college-students-selected-for-prestigious-fulbright-awards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/earlham.edu\/news-events\/three-earlham-college-students-selected-for-prestigious-fulbright-awards\/","title":{"rendered":"Three Earlham College students selected for prestigious Fulbright awards"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Three Earlhamites have been chosen for prestigious Fulbright Awards during the 2019-20 academic year as part of the United States\u2019 flagship government exchange program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jacob Harris \u201918 and Tyler Tolman \u201918 have received funding to become English-language teaching assistants in South Korea and Thailand, respectively. Nicole Gruszka\u2019s \u201919 Fulbright will support research on contemporary exorcism in rural Poland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThese three students are the consummate cultural ambassadors Fulbright seeks,\u201d says Elana Passman, Earlham associate professor of history and Fulbright liaison. \u201cAll three of our award winners this year served in leadership roles around campus \u2014 in student government, in Model United Nations, the Jewish Cultural Center, and beyond. They taught in the Writing Center and tutored. And they lived and studied abroad. They will be stellar representatives of the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Harris, who earned Bachelor of Arts in Biochemistry at Earlham, is currently a research technician\u00a0at Weill Cornell Medical School in New York City.\u00a0He\u00a0will travel to South Korea for the second time \u2014 his third time in Asia.\u00a0After his Sophomore year\u00a0he\u00a0interned at the National Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology in Thailand, and\u00a0as a Junior worked\u00a0as a research assistant at KAIST University in South Korea, where he\u00a0studied the linguistic and cultural challenges that arise when translating scientific research in Japanese, Korean and English.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis prompted my fascination with East Asian languages and I look forward to learning Korean as a Fulbright scholar,\u201d Harris says. \u201cThe Fulbright will build on much of what I did as an Earlham student, and I feel my Earlham education has prepared me to appreciate the opportunities this kind of adventure offers.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After his Fulbright year, Harris will study medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and plans to become a physician in the U.S. Army.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tolman, a graduate in both History and Spanish and Hispanic Studies, has two options to further his path as an educator. In addition to his Fulbright, Tolman also has an offer from Teach for America-Greater Philadelphia to earn his teaching certification at the University of Pennsylvania and serve as a high school Spanish teacher for the next two years. He is currently a coach with College Possible in Philadelphia, a program that works to improve college access and success for low-income students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gruszka, a Peace and Global Studies and Politics double major at Earlham, has entitled her research \u201cExamining the Social Functions of Contemporary Exorcism in Rural Poland.\u201d The project builds upon years of research that started at Earlham.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe primary goal of my research will be to uncover the social functions of exorcism and examine the role of exorcism within rural religious life and rural life more generally,\u201d Gruszka says in her application to the Fulbright program. She intends to interview both exorcists and the exorcised in the villages surrounding Lomza, and further contextualize these interviews through examination of publications and archival materials in the State Archives in Tor\u00fan, the Ethnographic Museum in Tor\u00fan and the library of the Institute of Archeology and Ethnology at the Polish Academic of Sciences in Warsaw.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All three Fulbright scholars plunged \u201cfull force\u201d into Earlham\u2019s liberal arts curriculum, Passman says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThese are remarkably gifted students,\u201d Passman says. \u201cThey devour ideas, and each has produced impressive works of original scholarship. Not only are they deep and versatile thinkers, but they take care to exercise their minds by immersing themselves in new areas of study. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cJacob has attributes that make for the best teachers and the best doctors: those who can listen and learn, who are deeply compassionate, and yet unafraid, and who are able to communicate clearly and with grace,\u201d she says. \u201cTyler animates any classroom he is in, and he throws his soul, his whole being into classes. Nicole has designed an original research project of significance that is built on years of study and research. Her linguistic fluency and her tremendous sensitivity to folk practices and traditions will be a great asset to her as she engages with both exorcists and the exorcized.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With 35 students or recent graduates earning the prestigious Fulbright scholarship since 1999, Earlham has long been recognized among the nation\u2019s best for producing well-prepared global scholars. In fact, the Chronicle for Higher Education<\/em> recognized Earlham in both 2012 and 2014 as one of the nation\u2019s top Fulbright-producing institutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Earlham promotes international study and scholarship through The Epic Initiative. This four-year journey combines the academic major with transformative learning experiences, including research, study away, internships and leadership development to prepare students exceptionally well for life beyond Earlham.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Earlham also offers The Epic Advantage \u2014 a funded internship, project or research experience of up to $5,000 per student \u2014 a level of support that few other institutions in the country can match.<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Media contact<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Brian Zimmerman<\/strong>
Director of media relations
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Email: zimmebr@earlham.edu
Phone: 765.983.1256<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n