RELEASED: April 23, 2009

DANVILLE, KY—Three Centre seniors and one alumnus have won 2009 Fulbright awards. The prestigious studying/teaching-abroad fellowship is named for the late Senator J. William Fulbright and is funded by the United States Department of State.

Centre has had 29 Fulbright winners in the last 10 years. The Chronicle of Higher Education listed the College as a top producer of Fulbright Awards among U.S. institutions.

Jessie Clark '09, an English major and French and creative writing minor from Louisville, has been recommended for a French Embassy-sponsored Teaching Assistantship. She will be teaching English in the public school system in the Académie of Nantes, an area on the west coast of France.

"If I work with high schoolers, which is my hope, I will be an assistant to a teacher, leading small discussion groups and other things," Clark says.

Clark studied abroad in Strasbourg during her time at Centre.

"I traveled almost every weekend and saw a lot of continental Europe," she says. "I can't wait to go back to France."

Clark is involved in Alpha Delta Pi, Centre Singers and women's club lacrosse. She is also the editor for Vantage Point, Centre's student-produced arts magazine, and she works at the writing center on campus.

Clark is a good friend of 2008 Fulbright winner Lillian Tuttle '08, who is currently in France conducting fish research. Tuttle just received the only Fulbright extension grant to have been awarded to an American Fulbright scholar for the current year's projects. She will receive an additional $3,000 over June and the beginning of July to visit collaborating labs in France and to explore the country.

While Clark isn't quite sure about her future career plans, she does know for certain: "It has to be something that allows for a lot of creativity. And I know that I'll always want to travel as much as money and other restrictions will allow throughout my life."

Michael Henry '09, a math and Spanish double major and history minor from Maryville, Tenn., will be living and working in metropolitan Madrid, Spain, as a teacher's assistant in an inner-city secondary school (a high school) and will be involved in mathematics, social studies, English and technology. He will be working in the bilingual program, and the courses in which he assists are instructed in English.

Henry has traveled abroad three times as a Centre student: Strasbourg in the summer of 2007; Merida, Mexico, in the fall of 2007, and Cameroon, Africa, this past January.

"Each experience was incredibly memorable and drastically different," Henry says. "I'm so lucky to have been able to explore the world through Centre's study abroad program. I'm now hooked."

Henry has been a member of the swimming and diving team for four years and was captain this year. He is also a Centre Radio DJ (he hosts a weekly Saturday show of Spanish music in Spanish), a member of the senior gift committee, and has participated in Centre Players and Centro Latino.

This summer, Henry is leading a delegation of four 15-year-olds to a month-long summer camp in Madrid. The non-profit, non-political, non-religious organization sponsoring the camp is Children's International Summer Villages, a worldwide network of local chapters that promotes peace education, leadership training, cross-cultural understanding and international friendships. The camp he is going to will have delegations of four 15-year-olds and leaders from nine different countries: Brazil, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Guatemala, Italy, Spain, Sweden and the United States.

Henry worked with 2008 Fulbright winner Katie Pfohl '08, who is now in Germany, in a play they both acted in last spring, and he was on the swim team with another 2008 Fulbright winner, Audrey Rogers '08, who is currently in France.

As far as long-term goals, right now Henry isn't certain.

"But law school is a serious option, as is diplomacy school," he says. "Working for the State Department would be incredible."

Spence Kimball '09, an international studies and German double major and history minor from Ft. Thomas, Ky., will be studying international relations in Germany at the Free University of Berlin.

"The Fulbright has been a major goal of mine since at least sophomore year," Kimball says.

He studied abroad in Strasbourg, France, during the spring of 2007.

"I lived with a former German teacher on the outskirts of town and had the opportunity to speak German regularly and to begin learning French," he says. "It was a really great experience because I was able to see Europe from the Netherlands to Poland."

Kimball is a consultant for the Writing Center, and he also is a staff writer for Centre's campus newspaper, the Cento. He also writes part-time for the Advocate-Messenger, Danville's local newspaper.
 
"German-major students at Centre receive Fulbright grants pretty regularly," Kimball says, "Which I think is a reflection of the support that professors like Dr. Ian Wilson and Dr. Ken Keffer offer their students. They were both Fulbright scholars, so their insight is very valuable."

Kimball took German classes at Centre with 2008 Fulbright winners Katie Pfohl '08, Caitlin Harper '08 and Andrew Beeler '08, both of whom are currently living and studying in Austria.

After studying in Germany, Kimball hopes to attend law school and study international law.

"I'd like to use that foundation in order to work as a journalist globally, which is really just an excuse to travel and learn as many languages as I can," he says.

In addition, Ross Lovely '04, a philosophy major from Lexington, Ky., was awarded a Fulbright scholarship and will be studying polar law in Iceland. Lovely received an M.A. in diplomacy and international commerce from the University of Kentucky and a J.D. from the University of Kentucky College of Law. After his Fulbright study, he will attend the University of Wisconsin-Madison to pursue a Ph.D. in chemistry.

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Founded in 1819, Centre College is ranked among the U.S. News top 50 national liberal arts colleges. Consumers Digest ranks Centre No. 1 in educational value among all U.S. liberal arts colleges. Centre alumni, known for their nation-leading loyalty in annual financial support, include two U.S. vice presidents and two Supreme Court justices. For more, visit http://www.centre.edu/web/elevatorspeech/

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