"Don't be afraid to have dreams, big ones even."
One student and one alumna have received , esteemed fellowships that allow American graduates to travel abroad and help local English teachers in their classrooms.
Benjamin Mace, who will graduate this year with a BA in English with a minor in Cinema Studies, will travel to . Alumna Brianna Reyes, who earned a BA in Classics and Classical Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics in 2014 and an MA in Applied Linguistics with a concentration in ESL education in 2018, will be stationed in . They are the tenth and eleventh students/alumni to receive a Fulbright ETA since classes began at UMass Boston in 1965.
The Fulbright ETA program is just that competitive: About into the program. This year, about 10,750 people applied, and . Candidates are selected based on their academics, experience with language, personal merit, the candidate鈥檚 proposal of what they will do over the course of their time abroad, and how well they will act as envoys to a foreign nation.
Although the Fulbright committee is quite selective, Mace believes 鈥淚f someone is considering applying to the Fulbright, don鈥檛 hesitate to apply. Don鈥檛 be afraid to have dreams, big ones even.鈥
Mace鈥檚 dreams include creating a cinema club in Lithuania, one designed to compare and contrast American and Lithuanian culture in the films. He hopes his time there will make him a more competitive applicant for graduate schools, and sees the ETA as a way to gain professional skills, as he wants to become a professor someday.
He doesn鈥檛 yet know where exactly he鈥檒l be teaching, what kind of school he鈥檒l be placed in, or even when he鈥檚 leaving for Lithuania, but these are secondary concerns. His ETA is supposed to run from September until June, but as of mid-March, the for 60 days due to the coronavirus. Their statement explained that after the inital 60 days, further evaluations will take place every 30 days until global travel is deemed safe.
In late April, Reyes received an update: An email notification that all ETA grants had been delayed until at least January of 2021. Mace's does not list a specific year, but Reyes's says the will begin in September 2021.
Still, there are still many unknowns about Reyes's ETA, including where she鈥檒l be teaching and when she鈥檒l travel abroad.
鈥淚鈥檓 under the impression that I鈥檒l be creating and facilitating a sort of extra-curricular club at the university where I鈥檒l be placed, but without knowing what they already have, it鈥檇 be difficult to say what new thing I鈥檓 bringing to the table,鈥 she said.
Reyes鈥檚 reasons for applying to the ETA program, however, are quite clear. She has already taught English as a second language (ESL) to Spaniards and wants to improve as an ESL instructor by taking up Turkish, which is linguistically unfamiliar. Also, though she鈥檚 been working in education for seven years, she wanted the opportunity to teach at a university, something the ETA program can offer her.
鈥淭he Fulbright program is a very prestigious program with a strong structure and support network that would provide me the professional development opportunities and guidance that I鈥檓 looking for at this point in my career,鈥 Reyes said.
She also wanted to share how her time at UMass Boston catalyzed her desire to teach, learn languages, and travel.
鈥淢y undergraduate experience really opened the world up to me, and helped me realize that I could go anywhere and do anything,鈥 she said. 鈥淚 have had so many positive, meaningful experiences in connection to UMass Boston, and I feel so grateful that it continues to guide and support me even now.鈥