Seven Carls receive Fulbright Awards for 2024

Five members of the Carleton Class of 2024 and two Carleton alumni from the Classes of 2022 and 2023 received Fulbright Awards this year from the Fulbright U.S. Student Program, which gives college students and recent graduates the opportunity to travel the world and participate in advanced research and culturally immersive experiences.

“During their grants, Fulbrighters meet, work, live with, and learn from the people of the host country, sharing daily experiences,” according to the Fulbright website. “The program facilitates cultural exchange through direct interaction on an individual basis in the classroom, field, home and in routine tasks, allowing the grantee to gain an appreciation of others’ viewpoints and beliefs, the way they do things and the way they think.”

Since 1946, the Fulbright program — the largest exchange program in the country — has worked to increase mutual understanding and respect between people living in the United States and people living in more than 140 participating countries worldwide. The program selects approximately 2,000 students annually to spend one academic year in a country of their choice. The participants are chosen for their academic record, personal qualifications, language preparation, eagerness to promote active engagement with a host community, and the feasibility of their project.

Students interested in applying in the future should contact Carleton’s Office of Student Fellowships for support and assistance.

Meet this year’s Fulbright grant recipients:

Hazel DeHarpporte ’24

• Environmental studies
• Fulbright: English Teaching Assistantship in Spain

“I’ll be spending the next year as an English teaching assistant at a secondary school in Madrid, Spain! I love working with students, and have past teaching experience as a backcountry guide for youth. I have taken Spanish since high school and am looking forward to improving my language skills. I am especially excited to immerse myself in Spanish culture, meeting lots of new people at the school where I am placed. I also hope to get outside and experience all the beauty Spain has to offer. I’m grateful for the opportunity and ready to spend the year learning!”

Annemily Hoganson ’24

• Mathematics
• Fulbright: Research Award in Germany

“I’m very excited to be going to Germany to do research in math! I’ll be working on a number theory project with Professor Damaris Schindler at the University of Göttingen. The project will use an analytic technique called the circle method that I started learning about in an independent study at Carleton, and I’m very excited to learn how to use the technique in a research setting. In addition to getting to know the number theory group in Göttingen, I’m looking forward to getting to know the city and continuing to develop my German language skills.”

Bjorn Holtey ’23

• Political science/international relations
• Fulbright: English Teaching Assistantship in Spain

“I am excited and honored to have the opportunity to work as an English teaching assistant in Spain this coming academic year. I will be located in the Comunidad de Madrid region, teaching English to secondary school students and assisting with additional subjects. I will also be helping with a Model United Nations program at my school called Global Classrooms. My work with the Carleton Writing Center, Carleton Summer Liberal Arts Institute, and Paper Airplanes English Program has given me a lot of meaningful teaching experience that I intend to bring to the Fulbright role.

I am really looking forward to being able to further develop my Spanish skills, explore Spain’s rich culture and history, engage with my host community, and make connections. Throughout my life, I have seen how games can bring people together across ages and cultures, allowing for the formation of new relationships and the deepening of existing ones, and while I am in Spain, I hope to start a regular event where members of my community can gather and play various games from different parts of the world. I am extremely grateful to my recommenders, the Carleton Office of Student Fellowships, and everyone else who has supported me while applying and preparing for this incredible opportunity.”

Isabel Hoyt-Niemiec ’24

• English (minor in Arabic)
• Fulbright: English Teaching Assistantship in Türkiye

“This September, I’ll be going to Türkiye, where I’ll serve as an English teaching assistant at a regional university. For the past two summers, I’ve worked as a teaching assistant at Carleton’s Summer Liberal Arts Institute, so I’ll draw on this experience to help me create fun and effective lessons. I look forward to connecting with students by learning about their culture and language while I share my own with them. I’ve never traveled to Türkiye before, but I became interested in its culture and history during my time at Carleton and while studying abroad in Amman, Jordan. I’m very grateful to have the opportunity to serve as a cultural ambassador for the U.S. and experience Türkiye for myself. I hope to connect with people outside of the classroom by joining a local running club, and I’m especially excited to learn Turkish and experience Turkish coffee culture!”

Roderick Liu ’24

• Political science/international relations and Asian studies
• Fulbright: English Teaching Assistantship in Laos

“I’ll be traveling to Laos starting early September, helping to teach English at the National University of Laos in Vientiane. I chose Laos due to my continued studies in Asian history and culture, and I wanted to explore somewhere more unique outside of East Asia. So far, I’ve met several Lao people (who have all been extremely kind), and I am very excited to spend the year there. Some specifics that I’m looking forward to are learning about Lao music (khene), food, and cultural views. After all, I think it’s key to be a humble guest and not only teach, but, more importantly, learn from my hosts in order to enjoy a fruitful year of cultural exchange.”

Josh Moore ’24

• Computer science (minors in religion and German)
• Fulbright: English Teaching Assistantship in Austria

“For the next school year, I will be teaching English in Austria. I studied off campus in Berlin with [Lecturer in German] Kiley Kost in the fall of my junior year, and it was lovely to spend time abroad, improve my German, and meet the locals. Kiley also sold me on the Fulbright program, as it was something she was very glad she had done, having clarified for her that she wanted to go into teaching. As I’ve talked to my teachers, friends, and extended family, it’s surprised me both how many of them have some experience with Fulbright, and that their experiences have been uniformly positive.

Specifically, I’ve been placed in Feldbach, Styria. It’s a tiny town (two-thirds the size of Northfield!) and is a stone’s throw from the Slovenian and Hungarian borders. I’m planning to live in Graz, a larger city about one hour to the west. I think that’ll enable me to live nearer to a college/university (Graz has four of each) as well as travel around southern Europe. I’m especially excited to improve my German and figure out whether teaching is a job I enjoy enough to pursue full time.”

Saraswati Vadnais ’22

• English
• Fulbright: English Teaching Assistantship in Taiwan

“Starting in August, I will be teaching English in an elementary or middle school in Chiayi, a small city in western central Taiwan (featured on Netflix’s Street Food: Asia in 2019!). While at Carleton, I studied Chinese for three years, so I’m looking forward to a year of language exchange in which I can teach English, as well as continue learning Chinese from the community — and maybe pick up some Taiwanese as well! 

I’m also looking forward to integrating myself into a new community and lifestyle in Taiwan, abundant with night markets, mountains, tea farms, and a fantastic high speed rail system connecting the island. I’m eager to put to use the education courses that I took at Carleton and St. Olaf, and the experience I gained working as a French TA, English tutor, and observing classes at Northfield Public Schools. I adore working with students, and am excited to learn more from the teachers I meet and work with in Taiwan.”