Senior Scott Clark will spend his first year after graduation as a Fulbright Scholar in Argentina, teaching English at a teacher-training college and pursuing his interest in journalism for publications in the U.S. and in Latin America.

March 25, 2009

Senior Scott Clark credits his Spanish "family" with changing his life.

The academic work of Clark's study abroad experience at the University of Cordoba was rewarding, he says, but the lasting friendships and personal interactions with Spanish people and culture has had a profound effect.

"I flew to Spain as an enthusiastic student of Spanish and Spanish-speaking cultures, and I returned to the United States with a family on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean," he said.

Clark will build on his international experience when he heads to South America as a 2009 Fulbright Scholar in Argentina.

The East Longmeadow, Mass. native learned that he had won a Fulbright the day after his birthday. "It's still very surreal for me to talk about having won the Fulbright—it's unbelievably exciting.

"Since my Fulbright grant is for an English teaching assistantship at a teacher-training college in Argentina, I'll be able to provide exactly the kind of native-speaking and cultural presence for students of English that has so enriched my studies of Spanish and other languages at Wheaton," he says.

"Argentina also is a country I've been fascinated by for years, and the opportunity to immerse myself in Argentinean culture will be an incredible opportunity to explore things that I've only studied from afar."

An English and Hispanic studies major and Latin American studies minor, Clark is well versed in Spanish culture. He traveled to Costa Rica as an international volunteer teacher for Cross Cultural Solutions in 2007 and studied at the University of Cordoba in 2008. He looks forward to sharing his passion for active learning and language retention.

"I am particularly interested in language instruction as a process, and working with future teachers of English would challenge me to be innovative and precise in my own methods of teaching and tutoring," he said in his Fulbright application.

Clark is a Trustee Scholar. He also receives the college's Charles A. Dana and the Lindholm-Lebovitz scholarships. While at Wheaton, he earned a fellowship, and two prestigious Presidential Scholar awards. Clark is active on campus as a peer advisor for the Center for Global Education, Spanish tutor, and preceptor. He previously wrote for The Wheaton Wire, the campus newspaper.

In the summer of 2008, his journalistic experience earned him an internship with La Prensa del oeste de Massachusetts, a bilingual Latino newspaper based in Western Mass. In addition to teaching in Argentina, he will serve as an international correspondent for the newspaper during his time abroad. While abroad, he also will pursue opportunities to study and participate in Argentine journalism.

Clarks feels his academic career at Wheaton prepared him well for this next journey. "At Wheaton, my studies in English and Hispanic studies have consistently pushed me to challenge the way I use language while speaking and writing. Majoring in both academic disciplines has allowed me to study representations of culture and identity through various lenses."

Upon his return to the United States, Clark plans to attend graduate school to pursue a joint degree in journalism and Latin American/Caribbean studies or work in international education at a college or university.