Wheaton senior Laura Corkery wins French Teaching Assistantship

Laura Corkery '07, a French Studies and International Relations major from North Marshfield, Mass., has won a French Teaching Assistantship through the Fulbright program. She will teach English next year in the university town of Rennes, France.

Corkery has been fascinated with all things French since she was a young child, when her mother took her to Renoir exhibitions and the family traveled often to Europe. During the second semester of her junior year, she studied in Paris and found that living with a host mother there helped her move from ''textbook French to everyday French.''

''I feel that the French have given me so much, and I want to give something back,'' said Corkery, who will teach children ages 8 to 11. ''I want to portray our culture in a different way from what they see in the mass media--to show them that there is something to American culture beyond Britney Spears.'' She hopes to introduce her young French students to American music, art and independent films.

Pursuing her interest in international relations, Corkery also spent a semester in London, where she interned at the headquarters of the Green Party of England and Wales. In the summer of 2006, with the support of a Wheaton Fellowship, she interned at WorldBoston, a nonprofit organization that brings speakers and emerging leaders to Boston from around the world.

A Dean's List student every semester, Corkery has been active on campus, singing with the Wheaton Chorale and Chamber Singers and serving as president of the French Club. As a senior she served as a tutor for the French Department, an experience that ignited her interest in teaching. Corkery has also been involved in the Russian Club and the Relay for Life fundraiser. She is the recipient of the Elizabeth Broderick Daunis Slocum Scholarship and was the winner of the Phi Beta Kappa Mandel Prize for French Studies in 2005.