Oh, The Places You’ll Go! Interviews with Two Fulbright Scholarship Recipients

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In a proud moment for Connecticut College, on April 19 a public announcement boasted a record-breaking number of Fulbright Scholars for the upcoming year.  Nine students, six graduating seniors and three graduates, received the award to teach and research in countries across the globe.
For those unfamiliar with the Fulbright Scholarship, it is a prestigious and competitive award given to roughly 1,600 U.S. students every year.  Funded by the U.S. Congress and Department of State with a working annual budget of around $200 million annually, it provides housing, transportation and living costs for each student going abroad on the program.  Initiated after WWII by Senator J. William Fulbright of Arkansas, in his own words, its intention is to promote “mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries of the world.”
Signed into U.S. law in 1946 by President Truman, the Fulbright Scholarship has developed in to a worldwide phenomenon, calling on students and scholars alike to open their doors and minds to foreign places and cultures.
If this doesn’t sound like a Connecticut College motto then I don’t know what does.  After interviewing two Fulbright recipients from this years graduating class, Lindsay Paiva ‘12 and Karam Sethi ‘12, it is clear that the values of knowledge and understanding instilled in every student here at Conn are equally upheld by everything that the Fulbright Scholarship stands for.  The intention of this article is not to inquire only about the projects of these two seniors as they have been interviewed and questioned by other sources to discuss their incredible project proposals.  As this article developed, what I found myself asking as a writer and a curious peer was how they got through the process, and what aspects of Conn enabled or motivated them to get to where they are today.  These are their individual and unique stories, a representation of the sweat and blood, so to speak, that thousands put fourth in applying for the Fulbright Scholarship of 2012-2013.

“I flew home in the middle of my semester abroad for the interview.”

Lindsay Pavia ’12 found herself in Perugia, Italy for a semester away during her junior year at Conn.  After finding depth and connection in the Italian culture and people, Pavia knew that four months in Italy would not be enough time.  Determined to secure herself a post-graduate fellowship, she travelled across the Atlantic mid-semester for interviews, searching for opportunities to further her research and learning of Italian life.  After laboring to find a professional in Italy to back her research and crafting a productive project, Pavia is headed back to Italy once again to research the impact and availability of education and how these factors contribute to the quality of Tuscan life.
When asked what she is most excited for, Pavia readily says that she looks forward to her time abroad and eagerly awaits authentic Italian culture, not the disillusioned kind that many think of upon hearing, ‘Italy’.  In her own words, “sometimes I think that Italy through an American lens, is all pizza and pasta and jovial old men, but it is so much more, and connecting with the people there at a deeper cultural level was something that really shifted my post-grad plans.”  An impassioned and intelligent woman, Pavia made it through the demanding Fulbright application process, and is set for return to Italy in January of 2013.

“Feeling like I couldn’t possibly be more stressed out during the application process made me think, this is the worst part, after this it’s smooth sailing.”

Having begun application in June of 2011, Karam Sethi ’12 shared with me the incredible pressure that came with the Fulbright application process.  What got him through these times of anxiety was the motivation of living in Malaysia, his targeted destination.  Sethi will head across the globe in January to teach English in a colorful and very culturally foreign place.  In a conversation about personal thoughts on his upcoming journey, Sethi confessed, “what makes me most nervous is going to a pretty culturally conservative country. Parts of Malaysia, like Singapore, are notorious for being strict on dress, the way one carries themselves, etc. I may have a lot of hurdles to overcome since I am a fairly out-there character from a fairly flamboyant country.”  Truer words have never been spoken, and this honest account is something that many travelers can relate to when leaving home for a long period of time.
There is something in both of these stories that every person on Conn’s campus can relate to.  We come in as freshman completely unaware of the transformation that awaits us, and then something amazing happens.  We form bonds, make connections and find inspiration beyond anything we ever expected, both in our classes, and in one another.  As Sethi insists, there is something truly remarkable about passion and the way it emboldens individuals.  We are all in our own ways, “fairly out-there characters” and I would argue that Conn embraces and even encourages us to exaggerate our individual differences, in order to make our community, our world, a better place.  As Pavia notes, “I think that my academic interests really shaped me in the end.  Being an English major has taught me to read in more than one sense, to interpret the traditional texts – those in anthologies, teachers’ lectures, the notes I have taken – and the texts of my life – a talk with my grandma, my best friend’s life story, the sidewalks and crosswalks and paths I have taken.”
These two outstanding individuals, the other seven recipients of the Fulbright Scholarship and all those who worked to receive this award represent the Connecticut College community in the most honorable manner possible.  Learning, sharing, understanding and exploring starts here with every individual on campus, and the values instilled in us, and the passions we find, will carry us to any corner of the world and beyond. •