Pearl Morttey ’21 receives Fulbright award to teach English in Bulgaria

Lincoln Scholar and first-generation student Pearl Morttey ’21 (Louisville, Kentucky) was awarded a Fulbright scholarship to work as an English Teaching Assistant (ETA) in Sofia, Bulgaria, for 10 months.

“I was interested in the Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship, because I am passionate about educational equity and wanting underrepresented students with disadvantaged backgrounds to not only receive equal access to education but also to have the best resources that will equip and empower them to be agents of change in their communities,” Morttey said. “As an international studies major hoping to work for the U.S. State Department one day, Fulbright allows me to practice my diplomacy skills through cultural exchange and interacting with different communities other than my own.”

As an ETA, Morttey will be working with 9th to 12th graders at Elisaveta Bagryana, an arts and technology school in the capital. She will be teaching English and American literature, giving presentations on American culture, society and history and organizing extra-curricular activities and coaching the school’s speech and debate team.

Morttey chose Bulgaria because of its unique and strong national identity in regards to religion, culture and music that she believes is so important in order to promote more community engagement and involvement amongst the students.

“As someone who has mentored young women in my city, I believe student’s success in the classroom stems from the support of the family,” she added. “It also takes a collective effort of educators, parents and community leaders to foster not just educational development but professional development that could benefit the Bulgarian society.”

Being in choir for nearly 12 years and knowing that Bulgarian music is such an integral part of everyday life, Morttey said she hopes to join a local community or church choir in order to learn more about Bulgarian music, as well as improve her Bulgarian language skills.

“As an ETA, I am looking forward to connecting with my students and the local community and exchanging cultures with one another,” she added. “I am looking forward to being independent and navigating a unfamiliar place for the first time. I am looking forward to traveling to many religious and cultural sites in Bulgaria and connecting with other ETAs.”

Morttey plans to use her interpersonal and public speaking skills, along with her ability to adapt to stressful situations that she hopes to gain in Bulgaria, to help prepare her for law school in Washington, D.C and to work for the U.S. government. After this experience, she hopes to continue to strengthen the relationship between the U.S. and other countries based on her time in Bulgaria.

While at Centre, Morttey said that study abroad and the summer enrichment experiences, provided by the Lincoln Scholars Program, helped her prepare for this opportunity.

“Throughout my time at Centre, I traveled to China, South Africa, Spain and Guatemala,” she shared. “I had experience being a teaching assistant in Guatemala in the summer of my first year, and an English teaching intern in Shanghai, China, in the fall semester of my junior year. Because of this, I had exposure to different cultures, and I already knew what it was like to live in a foreign country, speak a different language and interact with students who didn’t have the same identity as me. The International Studies program gave me the opportunity to understand a different country from a non-U.S. perspective, and constant discussions and presentations improved my social and public speaking skills.”

Being a Fulbright scholar means the world to Morttey, because it is difficult to find an opportunity like this in general, but even more so during a pandemic.

“I am thankful, and I count my blessings, because this is a very competitive scholarship, so that means they saw something special in me that I didn’t even know existed,” she added. “My parents are from Ghana, and growing up, they never knew this type of opportunity existed, yet they always told me to shoot for the stars, so I won’t take this award for granted.

“I would like to thank my Spanish and Chinese language professors, international studies department, my IST advisor Dr. Hartmann, and my Lincoln advisor Robert Shalkoff for helping me with my Fulbright application and providing me with opportunities I never thought I would have to be able to pursue the Fulbright in the first place,” she concluded. “They are the ones who encouraged me to apply.”