{"id":144679,"date":"2022-03-03T11:42:14","date_gmt":"2022-03-03T16:42:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/?p=144679"},"modified":"2024-07-01T16:53:02","modified_gmt":"2024-07-01T20:53:02","slug":"bates-named-a-fulbright-top-producer-for-11th-straight-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/2022\/03\/03\/bates-named-a-fulbright-top-producer-for-11th-straight-year\/","title":{"rendered":"Bates named a Fulbright Top Producer for 11th straight year"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Bates College has been named a Top Producer of Fulbright Student awards for the 11th straight year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The announcement of this year\u2019s Top Producers of Fulbrights, the U.S. government\u2019s flagship international educational exchange program, was made Feb. 28 by the U.S. Department of State\u2019s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and published in the Chronicle of Higher Education<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This year\u2019s Top Producer honor recognizes Fulbright offers extended to eight graduating Bates seniors and young alumni<\/a> in spring 2021 to support a year of English-language teaching or research abroad during 2021\u201322. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This year\u2019s Fulbright cohort began their application process in fall 2020. \u201cIt was an intense process, given the global uncertainty applicants were encountering\u201d due to COVID-19 pandemic, said Robert Strong, director of national fellowships. \u201cBates students and alumni showed tremendous grace, creativity, and persistence as they navigated the shifting Fulbright terrain country by country. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSome applicants had their country programs canceled outright, but they remained unthwarted, returning to apply again this year. This applicant pool, and the determination they showed in the face of a world gone sideways, are deeply inspiring.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Supported by a Fulbright Study\/Research Award, Bence Szechenyi \u201920 is now in Budapest, Hungary, where he is conducting research on a famous 19th-century Hungarian statesman, reformer, and political writer \u2014 and a relative of his, Istv\u00e1n Sz\u00e9chenyi.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Bence Szechenyi ’20 is doing research in Budapest, Hungary, supported by a Fulbright Study\/Research Award. (Bence Szechenyi)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Sz\u00e9chenyi is a national icon in Hungary, so there\u2019s a lot of material about him, says Szechenyi, but it tends not to be fully faceted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe is a sort of mythicized figure of greatness, used as inspiration and as a representative of Hungarian genius, which often sidelines many of the aspects of his life that are outside of this image,\u201d says Szechenyi, who majored in English at Bates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In his later years, Sz\u00e9chenyi struggled with depression and sought treatment at an asylum, but eventually committed suicide.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"AMERLING,
Portrait of Count Istv\u00e1n Sz\u00e9chenyi, by Friedrich von Amerling, 1836, oil on canvas, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest (detail).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSince he is my ancestor and was one of my heroes when I was growing up, it has been personally significant to gain a complete understanding of who he was,\u201d says Szechenyi.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because Szechenyi already had a connection to the culture, transitioning into living in Hungary was easier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBudapest is extremely international and there is a thriving community of students from all over the world,\u201d he says. And it helps that Szechenyi plays the most international of sports, soccer. \u201cI play for a club here. It\u2019s helped me form a community and practice my Hungarian.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the teaching side, Julia Maluf \u201921 is in Spain with an English Teaching Assistant Award.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a Bates student, Maluf volunteered in Lewiston public schools, helping fourth-graders with math, working with ELL students at Lewiston High School, and mentoring middle-school girls at the Hillview after-school program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For her senior thesis in her self-designed major, Maluf, an aspiring teacher, researched best practices for teaching English language learners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a classroom teacher now, that research is helping her meet students at whatever level of English proficiency they have.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTutoring students one-on-one really allows me to see their growth in English. Last week my student was very excited to tell me that he did well on his English test about the months of the year and the seasons and I was happy to celebrate with him,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Maluf, teaching in Spain during a pandemic has challenges, and rewards. Although her travel and cultural immersion opportunities are fewer, she is finding real connection and meaning in her work and social life, both with fellow U.S. Fulbrighters, and current Spanish college students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Julia
Julia Maluf ’21, second from right, attends a Real Sporting de Gij\u00f3n soccer game with other past and current Fulbright recipients at Estadio El Molin\u00f3n, in Asturias, Spain. (Julia Maluf)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI am very fortunate that our cohort here in Asturias is very small and we all live relatively close to each other,\u201d says Maluf. \u201cIt is very easy to spend time with my friends and go out to eat Spanish food, drink sidra \u2014 Spanish cider, but very different from a Downeast! \u2014 and explore our region.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For future Fulbrighters, Szechenyi and Maluf have the same advice: be genuine in your application, and make sure to add that personal touch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI guess the Fulbright commission can sense the authenticity of your interest in your application, so apply to do something you are passionate about in a place that matters to, or fascinates, you,\u201d says Szechenyi. \u201cThat genuine interest and passion will come across in your application and give you an advantage, I believe.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Check in with two of Bates’ 2021\u201322 Fulbright Student award winners now abroad, as Bates claims its 11th straight year as a Fulbright Top Producer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1422,"featured_media":140520,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_hide_ai_chatbot":false,"_ai_chatbot_style":"","associated_faculty":[],"_Page_Specific_Css":"","_bates_restrict_mod":false,"_table_of_contents_display":false,"_table_of_contents_location":"","_table_of_contents_disableSticky":false,"_is_featured":false,"footnotes":"","_bates_seo_meta_description":"","_bates_seo_block_robots":false,"_bates_seo_sharing_image_id":0,"_bates_seo_sharing_image_twitter_id":0,"_bates_seo_share_title":"","_bates_seo_canonical_overwrite":"","_bates_seo_twitter_template":""},"categories":[7,6],"tags":[3709],"class_list":["post-144679","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni","category-maine-world","tag-fulbright-u-s-student-program"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144679","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1422"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=144679"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144679\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":144771,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144679\/revisions\/144771"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/140520"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=144679"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=144679"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=144679"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}