VWHS grads studying in UK this summer

Two recent Van Wert High School graduates are spending a portion of the summer in the United Kingdom as part of the prestigious Fulbright Scholarship program.

Alyssa Hartman and Lauren Taylor, both 2010 graduates of Van Wert High School, have been awarded all-expenses-paid scholarships from the U.S.-U.K. Fulbright Commission in London to study in and tour the United Kingdom this summer.

Hartman, a Ball State University sophomore majoring in dietetics, will spend six weeks in Wales.  She is the daughter of Mark and Linda Hartman.

Taylor, a sophomore math major at Oberlin College, will spend five weeks in Newcastle, England.  She is the daughter of Kevin and Kathy Taylor.

Hartman will spend two weeks each at three internationally renowned Welsh universities: Cardiff University, Bangor University, and Aberystwyth University, focusing on the theme of “Contemporary Wales:  Economy, Culture, Politics, and Change.” Participants in this program will explore the geography, culture, heritage and history of Wales, visiting museums, galleries, parks, castles, and islands. Hartman was one of eight students chosen from across the United States for this award. Other participants are from Vermont, Florida, Connecticut, Illinois, New Jersey, Minnesota, and Idaho.

Taylor will spend five weeks studying at Newcastle University, a top-ranked U.K. university in a vibrant cosmopolitan city set in the northeast of England. Her time will be spent exploring the culture, heritage, and history of the U.K., including visiting museums, galleries, parks, castles, and islands.  Taylor will be touring the U.K. with eight other U.S. students who received this award, from Illinois, Texas, North Carolina, Virginia, Washington, Missouri, Georgia, and California.

“I am very thankful to have this opportunity to explore Wales,” said Hartman.  “I have several great-great-great-grandparents who emigrated from Wales in the 1860s, and I am excited that I will be able to visit the town where they lived.”

“I am really excited to become immersed in the British culture and to be able to meet new people,” Taylor added. “This is a once-in-a-lifetime experience and I feel very honored to be a part of it.”

Created by treaty in 1948, the Fulbright Commission fosters mutual cultural understanding through educational exchange between the U.S. and U.K.  The Commission is part of an inspirational global program conceived by Senator J. William Fulbright in the aftermath of World War II. Having studied at the University of Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar, Senator Fulbright felt educational exchange was the best vehicle by which to promote leadership, learning and empathy between nations.

The Commission supports around 40 U.K. and U.S. undergraduate students each year to undertake a demanding academic and cultural summer program at leading institutions in the US and UK respectively.  Through the summer programs, the Commission aims to reach out to students who are curious about the world around them and in whom the Commission sees great potential. The Summer Institutes are intended to be a “life changing experience” for the participants – selecting students who would not have otherwise had the opportunity to study and travel in the US or the UK.  Further information about the Fulbright Commission and scholarship opportunities can be found on its website www.fulbright.co.uk.

According to Connie Ainsworth, Van Wert High School guidance counselor, a total of 30 U.S. students were chosen this year for three Fulbright Commission U.K. summer trips, and only two of these were from Ohio.

“It is quite an honor that both of the Ohio students chosen are graduates of Van Wert High School,” she said. “Lauren and Alyssa will do a great job of representing our school, city, state, and country abroad.”