Addison Cross '20 will research in El Salvador next year.
St. 做厙輦⑹ congratulates Addison Cross 20, who was named a 2021-2022 Fulbright scholar for El Salvador. Cross, an International Relations and Spanish major, has visited El Salvador before and plans to use her time as a Fulbright scholar to research the community-level relationship between individual aid programs and peoples likelihood to migrate.
When Cross submitted her application, the grant program year was scheduled to start in fall 2020. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and its lasting effects, the Fulbright U.S. Student Program postponed student travel until 2021.
For Cross, the program is worth the wait. Fulbright has been my dream throughout undergrad, Cross said. The way that faculty and mentors at St. Kates have informed my approach to this type of work has been prep-work for this Fulbright road because its provided me with so much context.
Cross developed an interest in El Salvador her first year at St. Kates when she began work for The Advocates for Human Rights where she served a high influx of asylum seekers from Central America. Her advisors in the Center for Community Work and Learning, along with encouragement from Allison Adrian, PhD, and Mysee Chang, the directors of competitive fellowships, pushed her to work on her Fulbright application.
The highly prestigious Fulbright program has been setting the standard for competitive scholarships since 1946. There have been 24 Katies who have received this fellowship since 1953. Thousands of students around the globe compete for Fulbright Student scholarships every year; receive the award. Fulbright students are globally proficient and community-engaged in their navigation of cultures that are not a part of the United States super-culture.
Following her Fulbright year, Cross looks forward to utilizing the network of possibilities offered by the program. That is whats great about this opportunity, is it is going to allow me to express how capable I am of conducting this type of research, Cross said. And if its something I love, I can see a career headed in that direction. Her interests include foreign service or attending graduate school to pursue a degree that supports a career in public policy or cultural anthropology.
Two more Katies were named Fulbright Alternates: Alexia Martin 19 and Erin Nelson 20 each still have a chance to be awarded a Fulbright grant if funding becomes available. Martin hopes to teach English in Columbia and Nelson hopes to perform a graduate study within the International Politics Department in Wales.
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