2003 Wheaton Scholars

Laura Berman '03

2003 Fulbright Scholar
North Kingstown, R.I.

A double major in international relations and Hispanic studies, Laura Berman won a Fulbright to spend a year in Peru, researching and analyzing the effects of energy privatization on the Peruvian economy with the Group for the Analysis of Development, a private research center in Lima. ''I plan to examine the costs and benefits of energy decentralization in southern Peru, a threatening prospect to the percentage of the population (more than half) who earn less than two dollars a day,'' Berman wrote in her Fulbright application. In addition to her research, Berman planned to study Peruvian economics and politics at Pontifica Universidad Catolica del Peru. Berman aspires to a career in promoting economic change in Latin America at an organization such as the Inter-American Development bank or a public policy research institute.

Adar Cohen '04

2003 Truman Scholar
Peterborough, N.H.

Adar Cohen, an independent major in conflict resolution—an approach to learning grounded in anthropology, political science, religion and history—earned a 2003 Harry S. Truman Fellowship, a $30,000 merit-based grant awarded to undergraduate students to support graduate work in preparation for careers in public service. In the summer of 2002, Cohen traveled to the Himalayan Kingdom of Bhutan, a tiny Buddhist state between Tibet and India. Through funding provided by Wheaton's Davis International Fellows program, he assisted two Wheaton professors with a teaching fellowship and curriculum development project at Sherubtse College, Bhutan's only liberal arts institution. Cohen plans to continue his studies in conflict analysis and resolution, as well as negotiation, law and diplomacy.

Sabrina Denault '03

2003 Fulbright Scholar
Fairhaven, Mass.

Balfour Scholar Sabrina Denault taught English language and American culture classes at a school in France as the recipient of a Fulbright award. Denault spent her junior year in France, studying at the University of Tours Francois Rabelais, and during the summer of 2002 she gained teaching experience by interning at the Community Preparatory School in Providence, R.I. At Wheaton, she served as an academic mentor and a French tutor. For Denault, the Fulbright award offered the opportunity to be immersed in French language and culture and to gain additional teaching experience prior to beginning a graduate study program. Her ultimate goal: to teach French culture and history at the college level.

Jared Duval '05

2003 Udall Scholar
Fairlee, Vermont

Jared Duval received the 2003 Morris K. Udall Scholarship, awarded annually to 80 sophomores and juniors in recognition of outstanding potential and a commitment to pursuing a career related to the environment. As a high school senior in Lebanon, New Hampshire he led Students for a Sustainable Future, a student organizing group that worked to defeat a proposed supermarket construction project on 12 acres of wetland and forest between his high school and an elderly care facility. During the summer of 2003 Duval served as the energy and environmental policy intern for Howard Dean's presidential campaign. The $5,000 Udall scholarship supported his studies at Wheaton, which he hopes will lead him toward a public policy career focusing on renewable energy and other environmental issues. He is currently serving as the National Director of the Sierra Student Coalition, the student-run arm of the Sierra Club and the largest student-run environmental organization in the country.

Emily Hyde '03

2003 Fulbright Scholar
New London, Connecticut

English major Emily Hyde taught English in a Korean school with the support of her Fulbright award. Hyde honed her language teaching skills as head writing tutor in Wheaton's writing center, often working with students for whom English was a second language. As an education minor, she did her student teaching in the fifth grade at the Henri A. Yelle Elementary School in Norton. "I feel that the best way to learn about Korean culture, education, and society is to fully immerse myself in it," Hyde said. During her Fulbright year, Hyde also planned to pursue an independent research project centered on the concept of "whiteness" and how it plays out in a racially homogeneous country such as Korea. Through interviews, classroom observations and analysis of the curriculum, she hoped to examine the influences of white, Western culture and institutions upon Korean society and culture.

Megan Luce '03

2003 Fulbright Scholar
Burlington, Vermont

Megan Luce, an English literature major, taught English in Taiwan as the recipient of a Fulbright award. With a keen interest in politics, Luce was drawn to Taiwan because of its recent shift in government—the first in more than 50 years—and concurrent dedication to human rights. "It is a very interesting time in Taiwanese history and ... therefore a very enriching time to live in Taiwan," said Luce, whose career interests lie in alternative education. "I feel that my placement as a teacher will allow me to understand the culture and politics and bring back knowledge and understanding that I can share with future students in the United States."

Kirsten Stajich '03

2003 French Government Teaching Assistantship
Hillsborough, North Carolina

Balfour Scholar Kirsten Stajich, a double major in English and French, headed to the Orléans/Tour region of France on a teaching assistantship through the French Ministry of Education. There she taught English to primary school children. Stajich also won the Mandell award from the Phi Beta Kappa chapter of Massachusetts to study abroad in France during her junior year and was selected to travel to Istanbul, Turkey, for Wheaton's Robert College Program, teaching English to Turkish children at a summer camp. During the summer of 2003, Stajich interned at the World Student Christian Federation in Geneva, Switzerland, as the recipient of a Davis International Fellows award. A student with wide-ranging interests, Stajich was a member of the Wheaton College Dance Company, a managing editor of the Wheaton Wire, a French tutor, a senior intern in the Admission Office and a peer advisor in the Center for Global Education.

Anna Venishnick '02

2003 Fulbright Scholar
Simsbury, Connecticut

Wheaton graduate Anna Venishnick won a Fulbright award to teach English language and American culture classes to German high school students. While attending Wheaton, Venishnick spent her junior year at the University of Freiburg in Germany. During 2001-2002, she collaborated with another student to produce a documentary, "Berlin: City in Progress," as part of her senior honors thesis. After graduating from Wheaton, Venishnick spent time teaching English to elementary school children in China, and she has also worked as a tutor. Following her Fulbright work, Venishnick planned to pursue graduate work in education and become a German high school teacher.