UK Braces for Cougar Invasion
The United Kingdom will be hit with a Cougar invasion this summer when three Washington State University Honors students travel to England and Scotland as WSU’s first recipients of Fulbright UK Summer Institute awards.
Sophomores Joanna “Joey” Redmon and Grace Reed and freshman Alyssa Norris will spend four or five weeks this summer participating in thematic academic and cultural programs at highly regarded universities. The programs are intended to allow the students to experience the UK; help them develop their presentation, research, and communication skills; and perform some local community service. The program covers the majority of participants’ costs, including round-trip airfare, tuition and fees, accommodations, and meals.
None of the three have been outside North America before this opportunity.
Looking Back in Time
The opportunity to combine a love of history and culture with learning was irresistible to Grace Reed, a sophomore creative writing major from University Place, Wash.
Reed is heading to the Nottingham Trent University summer institute to study “Creativity, Culture, History, and Heritage” for four weeks.
“The U.S. is a relatively young country,” Reed says. “We have 200-year-old buildings, but we’re not as steeped in history as the U.K. It’s not always right up next to modern day communities. I just want to go and look at something that has been there since forever. It’s like looking back in time — and I’m really looking forward to it.”
Reed’s program will be a combination of university classes about the local history, art, architecture, fine arts, and culture, as well as trips into the region to learn about the community first-hand. There will also be a culminating project.
Not only is Nottingham Trent University steeped in history itself — it was established as an educational institution in 1843, before Washington was a state — but the area is also home to folk hero Robin Hood, the Outlaw of Nottingham himself.
Reed hopes the trip and exposure to cultural greats of years past will spur her own creative juices. She hopes to become a fiction author.
“The more experiences I have, the better it enables me to write,” she says.
Reed also volunteered at the Point Defiance Zoo in high school for the same purpose, although she has no interest in working with animals.
It seems to be working; Reed had two stories published in the most recent edition of LandEscapes, WSU’s undergraduate-focused literary and arts journal.
“For me, it’s about the experience,” she says. “It gives me more stories and makes me a better writer.”
Reed heard about the opportunity through Honors College professor Robin Bond, clinical associate professor of classics.
Reed was interested in studying abroad, and Bond encouraged her to apply. The Nottingham program, which focuses on culture, history and heritage, is also in one of the UK’s five most creative cities, according to the Fulbright Commission’s website.
With takeoff pending, Reed is excited.
“It’s like the first day of school,” she says. “It’s so utterly different from the U.S. Yes, they speak English and there are certain cultural similarities, but it’s going to be very different, and no amount of reading or research can prepare me for that.”
But as an aspiring Anglophile and heavy reader of English historical fiction, Reed is ready to go.
“I’ve always loved England and all of the history,” she says. “I was obsessed with the Tudors and Henry IIX … I want to see the rest of Europe, but I love the idea of visiting all of those landmarks and seeing the history in England. It’s something I’ve always wanted to do.”
Scottish Arts
Joanna “Joey” Redmon, a sophomore pre-pharmacy major from Spokane, will attend the Fulbright-Scotland Summer Institute at the University of Dundee and the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow for five weeks. Her topics is “Scotland: Identity, Culture, and Innovation.”
Redmon’s program will include site visits, seminars, and lectures, with an emphasis on the culture of the U.K. and life sciences. Of the nine programs, hers had the most emphasis on science and technology, Redmon says.
She will spend the first half of her five weeks in Scotland at the University of Dundee, focusing on Scottish literature, history, forensic human identification, river hydrology and the arts, and then move to Stratchclyde University, where she will learn about Scottish history, health and society, media and politics, and science and technology.
It also offered another unique feature: the arts.
As a lifelong dancer, Redmon is eager to move in a new way.
“I’ve danced my whole life, so I have a background in the arts,” Redmon says. “The University of Dundee has a really good theater program. I don’t know yet what we’ll be learning, but since they have such a renowned fine arts program, I’m sure we’ll be working with them.”
The application process opened up last November, Redmon says. It was comprehensive, with two essays and several written responses required. She submitted the application early in March, then had a 15 minute phone interview for the program.
“They were looking for people who would be good ambassadors of the United States,” Redmon says of the interview.
Two weeks later, she found out she’d been accepted.
“I was very surprised,” Redmon says. “I know the Fulbright program is competitive, and I was mostly applying for fun. I didn’t expect a phone interview, and I was very surprised when I actually got in. I think it will be an incredible experience and a good cultural immersion for me.”
Although the program does not relate directly to her major, Redmon is eager to realize the personal growth opportunities of travel abroad.
“I think it’s really important to gain cultural awareness,” she says. “Part of being a well-rounded person is having a global perspective. Traveling to someplace far away and getting to spend five weeks there will help me grow and give me a new perspective on things.”
She’s also excited to gain leadership skills and independence to bring back to WSU and the Crimson Girls in the fall. Redmon anticipates the 2014-2015 school year will be her final one in Pullman before going to Spokane to finish her degree.
“I picked the closest college to home,” Redmon says of her decision to attend WSU. “But it’s turned out to be the best decision I’ve ever made. I have a lot of pride in the university.”
A Shared Dark History of Slavery
Alyssa Norris, a freshman bioengineering student from North Pole, Alaska, will study “Slavery and the Atlantic Heritage” at the University of Bristol.
Bristol, England, was one of the main trading ports during the 1700s and 1800s for the slave trade, Norris says.
“We’ll look particularly at how the triangle went from Africa to Bristol to the Americas,” Norris says. “The last part of the program is a compare-and-contrast between parts of Africa and how the slave trade affected them.”
Norris and the other American students in the program will also volunteer in the community.
Honors College professor Robert Eddy suggested she apply, Norris says.
“I’ve always been interested in cross-cultural communication,” she says, adding that her mother was born on the Nez Perce Indian Reservation. “I think it will be neat to see the change in western culture with the slave trade and trade in general. It’s fascinating, and I felt this was a good opportunity to experience that.”
Cultural communication is one of the main objectives of the Fulbright program. Students in the University of Bristol track will visit Bristol’s Parliament and city council, and a full slate of cultural events, including a theatre night at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre, the oldest continually operating theatre in the UK. They will also see a UNESCO World Heritage Site at the Roman Baths in Bath, among other trips.
“One of the main things this program does is try to create better relationships between the United States and the UK,” Norris says. “I’m also hoping to learn and soak in culture.”
She’s relieved there’s no real language barrier. Though there might be different lingo and accents, English will still be spoken.
“I know things are different there,” Norris says. “I’m not nervous about that, but I am looking at it as a challenge to overcome.”
She’s already reached out to some of the other 10 American students in her program. They set up a Facebook page and have been communicating. Norris doesn’t yet know what her living situation will be, but anticipates living on campus and taking weekend trips throughout the country.
“There will be an opportunity to go to London, and I’m really looking forward to that,” she says.
And when Norris comes back for her sophomore year, she hopes to continue representing the Fulbright program.
“I hope to be able to speak for the program and advocate for students to go,” she says. “I want to get people more involved and realize the political and cultural connections.”
She also plans to study abroad next summer, possibly in Japan. She had planned to go to Japan this summer until she was accepted into the Fulbright Program.
Norris plans to get the Honors College Certificate of Global Competencies before graduating.
MEDIA CONTACT: Amelia Veneziano, Communications Assistant, Honors College at WSU, 509-335-8070, aj.veneziano@gmail.com
CONTACT: Sarah Ann Hones, Distinguished Scholarships Director, University College at WSU, 509-335-8239, shones@su.edu