Three students from Loyola Marymount University won Fulbright awards for 2014-2015, placing the college among the top 21 Masters institutions producing Fulbright grantees, according to The Chronicle of Higher Education.
LMU’s current Fulbright grantees are:
- Alexi Brooks (‘14, civil engineering), English teaching assistantship in Cyprus
- Griffin Gosnell (‘18, Marital & Family Therapy Graduate Program), English teaching assistantship in Thailand
- Janna Brancolini (‘14, Loyola Law School), study/research grant for law in Bologna, Italy
The Fulbright Program is the U.S. government’s flagship international educational exchange program. More than 1,800 U.S. students, artists and young professionals in about 100 different fields of study are offered Fulbright Program grants each year to study, teach English and conduct research. The Fulbright U.S. Student Program operates in more than 140 countries throughout the world.
“I feel immense gratitude to be considered worthy of representing my country as an ambassador abroad,” says Brooks. “To me, being a Fulbright Scholar means connecting the U.S. with another country through the mutually beneficial exchange of learning; in my case through fulfilling a dream of teaching English.”
She credits her successful application to her experience in LMU’s Honor’s Program and the support of Dr. Kathleen Harris.
“If I hadn’t had the encouragement from professors at LMU and the one-on-one assistance from the University Honor’s Program faculty to build my application, I don’t think I would have even applied, let alone succeeded,” Brooks says.
In Cyprus, the LMU graduate is teaching English to children ages 6 to 10 in a Greek-speaking primary school while immersing herself in Greek language lessons after school. She also teaches English to Arabic-speaking children and adults — mostly refugees from Syria —at a refugee camp in the countryside.
“This experience has also compelled me to consider maybe working for the United Nations or the U.S. Department of State one day,” she says. “Though I still plan to return and work as a civil engineer, this program has made me sure I don’t want to have only one career for the rest of my life.”