Six young Bates College alumni, including five newly minted graduates, have been offered Fulbright Student awards for 2025–26.
Bates has been recognized as a Top Producer of Fulbright Student awards for 14 straight years, most recently in February for 2024–25.
“These six accomplished Fulbright recipients embody the Bates mission of commitment to responsible stewardship of the wider world,” said President Garry W. Jenkins. “We are immensely proud of and thrilled for our awardees, whose academic achievements, passion for intercultural understanding, and joy in exploration will enable them to build powerful connections between the people of the United States and the people of other countries.”
This year’s awardees have been offered Fulbright English teaching assistant grants for Germany, Rwanda, Spain, Switzerland, and Taiwan, and a Fulbright research award for Slovenia.
Each year, the Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program offers over 400 awards in more than 135 countries for U.S. citizens to teach, conduct research and carry out professional projects around the world.
“I have been inspired this year by seeing Bates students and our young alumni lean into our world’s accelerating complexity,” said Robert Strong, director of national fellowships and lecturer in English. “It’s good to know that these Bates Fulbrighters will be around the globe, representing the positive, problem-solving spirit of American leadership in learning and research.”
The Bates Fulbright Committee described these six internationally minded young leaders as humble, enthusiastic, personable, curious — and exceptionally knowledgeable.
Claire Bohmer ’25
Claire Bohmer ’25, a biochemistry major from Steamboat Springs, Colo., has been offered a Fulbright study/research grant for Slovenia.
Research Experience Includes: Bohmer studies Lyme disease with a place-based approach that combines lab research and local knowledge. At Bates, she was a researcher in the lab of Paula Schlax, Stella James Sims professor of chemistry and biochemistry, as a National Institutes of Health INBRE fellow, investigating RNA and protein behavior in the Lyme disease–causing bacterium.
Bates and Community Activities Include: Biology teaching assistant, STEM scholar, AESOP trip leader, Bates Public Health Initiative participant, and president of Chicks on Sticks women’s ski club.
Fulbright Research Purpose: To compare the primary bacterial transmitter of Lyme disease, Borrelia burgdorferi, as it appears in Europe versus the United States in order to better understand the pathogen’s structure and function, which could help establish more effective therapeutic treatments for Lyme disease.
In collaboration with the University of Primorska, in Koper, Slovenia, Bohmer will also observe how Slovenian communities combat Lyme disease using public health initiatives and disease research, to determine if such methods could serve as global models for other countries to implement as tick-borne diseases grow increasingly prevalent under climate change.
Plans for Host-Community Engagement in Slovenia: To volunteer at the Science Centre at the University of Primorska to share science with the general public, connect with local schools in Koper and work with elementary students to better understand the local knowledge of those living in tick-populated areas, and run with the Obala Ultra Trail group.
Plans After Fulbright: To attend medical school for pediatric care or pursue a master’s degree in biotechnology.
What the Bates Fulbright Committee Said: “Both her academic endeavors and her extracurricular activities keep her engaged in her community: She always seeks to connect what she loves to what she does.”
More About Bohmer: During a semester spent studying climate science in Patagonia, Bohmer stepped outside the lab to learn directly from ranchers, fishermen, and storekeepers, discovering that place is defined less by landscape than by the people and stories that shape it.
As an emerging scientist with an interest in research, intervention, and disease management, Bohmer is driven by that sense of connection. “Genuinely connecting and listening to others may just be the solution to changing scientific narratives that no longer serve communities at large.”
Charles Breyfogle ’25
Charles Breyfogle ’25, a double major in politics and French and Francophone studies from Columbus, Ohio, has been offered a Fulbright English teaching grant for Switzerland.
Relevant Experience Includes: French-English translator with Maine’s Immigrant Legal Advocacy Project, French language teaching assistant, sailing instructor, and soccer coach.
Bates and Community Activities Include: Center for Purposeful Work peer advisor, varsity soccer team member, and volunteer at Trinity Jubilee Center.
Plans for Host-Community Engagement in Switzerland: To join a community soccer team, coach or volunteer with youth soccer players, join outing clubs, offer English tutoring outside of the classroom, and volunteer for social service or environmental organizations.
Plans After Fulbright: Earn a law degree and work as an immigration lawyer serving French-speaking populations.
What the Bates Fulbright Committee Said: “Charlie is a quiet leader who makes the groups he is in much stronger through his skills in mediation. He will be a model for his students regarding community engagement and civic responsibility.”
More about Breyfogle: An avid traveler, Breyfogle has connected with friends around the world through the universal language of soccer. He joined Kansai Gaidai University’s team during his semester abroad in Japan and, despite knowing little Japanese when he arrived, became friends with Japanese students through bonding over the sport.
“Soccer has allowed me to create friendships and learn more about other cultures, whether immigrants to the U.S. or while traveling abroad. I now have a plethora of friends waiting to open their doors to me around the world — I too would do the same for them.”
Maple Buescher ’25
Maple Buescher ’25, a politics major from Cleveland Heights, Ohio, was offered a Fulbright English teaching grant for Spain. For 2025–26, she has chosen a different path and will serve as a Spanish teaching apprentice at the High Mountain Institute, a wilderness-based semester school in Colorado.
Relevant Experience Includes: Teaching assistant at an afterschool program for children from underserved populations in Spain, youth mentor with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Mid–Maine, and counselor at Reaching Heights orchestral camp. She completed an honors thesis analyzing nationalist rhetoric and changing understandings of nationalism in Galicia, Spain, from 2016 to 2024.
Bates and Community Activities Include: Ladd Library student access specialist, editor-in-chief of The Bates Student 2023–24, Outing Club trip leader, and club sailing team member. She graduated magna cum laude, with honors in politics and Phi Beta Kappa membership, and received the Charles A. Dana award.
Wes DeOreo ’25
Wes DeOreo ’25, a double major in politics and German from Westport, Conn., earned a Fulbright English teaching grant for Germany.
Relevant Experience Includes: Research aid studying transatlantic history at the University of Freiburg, in Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany; English teaching volunteer at the Carl-Shurz-Haus in Freiburg; and head coach of PTSV Jahn Freiburg Pumas Lacrosse.
Bates and Community Activities Include: AESOP leader, rugby club president, Athletics student assistant, and Davis Fitness Center attendant.
Plans for Host-Community Engagement in Germany: Join community sports teams and reconnect with German friends and family.
Plans After Fulbright: To pursue a career in public service.
What the Bates Fulbright Committee Said: “Wes has a strong sense of service. Wes also has an impressive sense of humility and is eager to learn from his students through this experience.”
More about DeOreo: While teaching English during his semester abroad in Germany, DeOreo fielded students’ questions about life in America, including questions about gun violence, particularly sensitive to DeOreo in the aftermath of the October 2023 shootings in Lewiston.
“It will be my job to encourage my students to embrace their curiosity and see the classroom as a place where they have freedom to seek answers to these challenging questions.”
Madeleine Kwei ’25
Maddy Kwei ’25, a psychology major from Pasadena, Calif., earned a Fulbright English teaching grant for Taiwan.
Relevant Experience Includes: English teaching assistant in France and Nicaragua, psychology teaching assistant at Bates, and creator and leader of a six-week English language learning program with Families Forward Learning Center in Pasadena, Calif.
Bates and Community Activities Include: Over 100 hours of community-engaged learning experience mainly with youth in afterschool programs and classroom settings, community outreach fellow with the Harward Center for Community Engagement, women’s varsity golf team member, and Ladd Library access desk worker.
Plans for Host-Community Engagement in Taiwan: To encourage students to play sports with an emphasis on gender equality and volunteer with Special Olympics.
Plans After Fulbright: To pursue a master’s degree in counseling psychology, with the goal of working as a psychologist for diverse youth and people with Asian backgrounds.
What the Bates Fulbright Committee Said: “Maddy is passionate about working with youth and learning more about adolescent development, and skilled at communicating and efficiently solving problems.”
More about Kwei: Kwei spent several years of her childhood in Beijing, where the friendships she formed at her international school informed her passion for intercultural communication from an early age.
While showing Danish friends she met in Beijing around Maine, Kwei became aware that “Americans hold a high regard toward celebrating regional cultures and integrating diversity into everyday life. Learning to recognize the values and beliefs that make me an American (and the blind spots that I still have) deepens my curiosity to learn more about the world and how I can contribute as an informed global citizen.”
Helena Raddock ’24
Helena Raddock ’24, a politics major from Warren, Vt., has been offered a Fulbright English teaching assistant grant for Rwanda.
Relevant Experience Includes: Maine Immigrants’ Rights Coalition intern with the Rwandan Association of Maine; English language learning mentor to elementary school students; Lewiston High School tutor; Vermont Council on World Affairs Global Leadership Program participant; Vermont-based nonprofit Let’s Grow Kids field organizer; study abroad in Cape Town, South Africa, with a human rights and multiculturalism program.
Bates and Community Activities Include: Center for Purposeful Work peer advisor; Snaggletooth literary magazine contributor; peer tutor for First-Year Seminars; “Get Out the Vote” fellow for Harward Center for Community Partnerships. At commencement, she received the Maung Maung Gyi Award for Excellence in Politics with membership in Phi Beta Kappa, completing an honors thesis on “The Construction of Coloured Identities: Apartheid Nostalgia and the Politics of Memory.”
Plans for Host-Community Engagement in Rwanda: To offer career-guiding workshops for Rwandan citizens at the U.S. Embassy, create an English language learning book club, and volunteer with women’s empowerment organizations such as Rwanda Women’s Network or Empower Rwanda.
Plans After Fulbright: To pursue a master of arts degree in global affairs with a focus on gender, conflict, resolution, and peacemaking.
What the Bates Fulbright Committee Said: “Since learning that Rwanda has the world’s highest proportion of women in government positions, Helena has wanted to live in Rwanda and learn more about the role of women in Rwandan education and society.”
More about Raddock: Raddock’s passion for helping others learn languages is largely informed by her experience living with a host family in South Africa, who welcomed her and encouraged her as she learned the isiXhosa language, which was no easy task.
Last summer, she attended Middlebury College’s French language immersion program, which “deepened my passion for language learning and cultural immersion.”
“My goal is to foster an atmosphere where language learning is viewed as an opportunity for growth and connection, just as it was for me during my time with my homestay family.”
