2019-2020 Recipients

A government and legal studies major and Arabic minor, Cole will spend the spring and summer of 2021 studying Arabic in Amman, Jordan. He is excited by this chance to return to Jordan after spending the summer of 2017 in Amman through the National Security Language Initiative for Youth program. Cole spends his free time at Bowdoin working for the Orient and volunteering at Portland Adult Education, and he intends to pursue similar opportunities in journalism and education during his time abroad. After college, he hopes to pursue a career in public service with a focus on the Middle East.

As a Government and Environmental Studies major at Bowdoin, Brianna has a special interest in the intersection of environmental crises, migration, and human rights in the Middle East and North Africa. She will strengthen her skills in Arabic through CLS’ State Department-funded eight-week intensive program in Meknes, Morocco, where she hopes to build on two years of language and cultural instruction at Bowdoin and prepare for a global career in sustainable development. On campus, she is a journalist with the Bowdoin Orient, involved with Bowdoin Climate Action and Stowe Writers Collective, channeling her love of storytelling into meaningful action.

A 2020 graduate from Laramie, Wyoming, Ali will be teaching English in Galicia, Spain on a Fulbright grant. As a Hispanic Studies major and economics minor, she has enjoyed studying languages and literatures abroad in Oman, Chile, and France during her time at Bowdoin. Her other interests include farming and mountain biking, and she looks forward to exploring Galicia’s greenery through a local lens. As an ETA, Ali hopes to learn more about dual/multi-language pedagogy in the region’s plurilingual schools (English, Spanish, and Galician). After Fulbright, she plans to pursue a career in language teaching in the U.S.

Graduating Bowdoin with a degree in psychology, education, and sociology, Caroline is thrilled to be an English Teaching Assistant in Spain for the 2020-2021 year. Having worked as a mentor, tutor, and teacher, she looks forward to adapting her classroom knowledge and skills to a new setting. She plans to connect her former and future students to foster meaningful cross-cultural exchange. As a member and captain of the Bowdoin Volleyball team, she may explore opportunities to further this passion through coaching or playing. Caroline is keeping an open mind about potential extra-curricular involvements but is particularly eager to dive into Spain's rich art culture in some capacity.

Sophie graduated from Bowdoin with a degree in English and Education. Throughout her time at Bowdoin, she developed her love of reading and writing through taking a variety of English classes, writing as a columnist for the Bowdoin Orient, and teaching writing over a summer in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She also led an SAT and college readiness group called Let's Get Ready. She's excited about the prospect of sharing this love of reading and writing with students in South Korea. She looks forward to learning more about South Korean culture through its education system and to applying what she learns abroad throughout her career in Education back in the States.

Ellen is an Education/ Anthropology coordinate major who focuses on the educational experiences of afro-descendent people in the Americas. While at Bowdoin, she was a Mellon Mays undergraduate fellow and conducted an independent summer research project focused on affirmative action students in São Paulo, Brazil. Eager to expand her experiences and deepen her understanding of the Brazilian educational system, she returns as a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant. Ellen is excited to return in this capacity and looks forward to sharing her pedagogical practices in the classroom as well as fully immersing herself in Brazilian culture outside the classroom.

Drawing on her experience of learning English as a second language, Sarah is very excited to facilitate productive intercultural education and exchange with her German students. Informed by her perspective as a Korean American raised in the Deep South and educated in the Northeast, she hopes to underscore the value of multiculturalism and inclusivity in an increasingly diversifying country. Having started her study of the German language in her second year at Bowdoin, Sarah looks forward to experiencing the culture she has only learned about from a classroom.

At Bowdoin, Rhianna studied neuroscience and math and discovered a profound interest in the connection between brain and behavior. While studying abroad in Chile, she interned as an English tutor and discovered that teaching children was an incredible way to study this connection first- hand. As an ETA in La Rioja, Spain, Rhianna hopes to teach in a science classroom and develop teaching strategies to help students with learning disabilities. Outside of the classroom, she is excited to volunteer in the healthcare field and engage with the community before returning home to pursue a graduate degree.

Tessa graduated from Bowdoin with a double major in Francophone Studies and Earth & Oceanographic Science. At Bowdoin, she worked as a Writing Assistant and Admissions Senior Interviewer. Tessa's tutoring experience and enthusiasm for language learning motivated her to pursue a position as an English Teaching Assistant in Vietnam, where she also hopes to learn about the potential impacts of increasing development and climate warming. Tessa hopes that teaching in an international education system can prepare her for a career in higher education admissions or administration.

Academically while at Bowdoin, Kate majored in Sociology and Education, pursuing her dual interests of understanding people and groups as well as furthering her understanding of school systems and best practices. She looks forward to applying these areas of study to her time as an English Teaching Assistant in Mexico. Athletically, she plans on building upon her experience as a four-year member of the women’s soccer team to coach and mentor players in her host community. Upon her return to the U.S., Kate hopes to pursue her goal of becoming a bilingual educator and soccer coach for girls and young women.

At Bowdoin, Sarah majored in Religion and minored in Chinese, and spent her additional class time within the Visual Arts program and was a four-year member of the tennis team. Graduating in 2019, Sarah has spent the past year working as a tutor and teaching assistant at Match Charter Public High School in Boston. Sarah is hoping to pursue a career in education with a focus on disparities and accessibility. In Malaysia, Sarah will teach English and hopes to become involved with extracurricular enrichments such as tennis and art. She is excited to immerse herself in Malaysian culture and build meaningful relationships within the local community. 

Elly is a double major in Africana Studies and Anthropology and studied abroad in the Dominican Republic, where she strengthened her Spanish skills and conducted research on Caribbean cultural practices. Through her work with the Geoffrey Canada Scholars and as a Peer Advisor with the CXD, she developed a passion for supporting students with writing and rhetoric. As an ETA in Colombia, Elly is thrilled to continue exploring her interests in social justice and education while volunteering with community organizations focused on sustainable community projects. Originally from Ayer, MA, she looks forward to engaging with Colombia’s vibrant history and culture.

Sarah Walker will be a Fulbright ETA in Madrid, Spain during 2021. With a degree in Government and Legal Studies and a minor in Earth and Oceanographic Science, Sarah is excited to take her interdisciplinary experience to a high school in Madrid. She spent fall 2018 in Granada, Spain, where she immersed herself in Spanish language and culture, and is eager to return and explore a new city. She looks forward to building upon her teaching skills from being a teaching assistant at Bowdoin Upward Bound and International Rescue Committee, and hopes to pursue a masters in international affairs after returning.

Laura graduated from Bowdoin with a double major in Government and Legal Studies and Russian Area Studies. Her fall 2018 study abroad semester in Moscow, summer 2019 Bowdoin Public Service Fellowship in D.C. and senior thesis inspired her to pursue a Fulbright research grant to study cyber security and Russian and Chinese influence operations in Estonia. At Bowdoin, Laura was one of the editors-in-chief of the Bowdoin Review and volunteered in the Portland courthouse with Maine Volunteer Lawyers Project. After Bowdoin, she hopes to pursue a career at the intersection of technology, law, and geopolitics.

Penelope graduated from Bowdoin in 2017 with a major in English and a minor in History. She has spent the years since working in medical education research at the Program for Medical Education Innovations and Research at New York University, and completing her masters in Narrative Medicine at Columbia University. For her Fulbright S/R grant, Penelope will study English literature and the health humanities at the University of Exeter, which is home to the interdisciplinary Wellcome Centre for the Cultures and Environments of Health. In addition to her research, Penelope looks forward to exploring the beautiful southwest of England.

Owen graduated with majors in biochemistry and German. During his time at Bowdoin, he was a member of the track team, a teaching assistant in German and biochemistry, and a DAAD RISE research fellowship recipient at the University of Hamburg. Now, he is excited to return to Germany under a Fulbright Study/Research award. There, Owen will work at the Max Plank Institute for Colloids and Interfaces and research a novel vaccine for the ubiquitous hospital-borne pathogen A. baumannii. He is also looking forward to using and improving his German language skills and exploring the Berlin area. In the Fall of 2021, Owen will join the University of California, Berkeley to begin a PhD in Chemistry.

Zoë is an Earth and Oceanographic Science and Biochemistry double major, excited about the single-celled organisms that facilitate nutrient and chemical cycles in the ocean. She was awarded a Goldwater Scholarship, one of the country's oldest scholarships for science, engineering, and math, that supports college sophomores and juniors "who show exceptional promise of becoming the next generation of research leaders." She has pursued research both on and off Bowdoin’s campus, most recently on the microbial ecology of undersea caverns called blue holes. Zoë plans to pursue a PhD in biological oceanography after graduation.

Anneka grew up in Vermont spending lots of time outside with her family and asking lots of questions, which has ultimately inspired a fascination with processes that govern the natural world. At Bowdoin, she is a Biology major and Earth & Oceanographic Science minor particularly interested in studying the intersection of climate science and biology in extreme environments such as the Arctic and high altitude regions. As a Goldwater scholar she will receive $7,500 toward tuition for her senior year.

Julia graduated from Bowdoin with a major in Earth and Oceanographic Science and a minor in Visual Arts. As a Mitchell Scholar, she will be attending the Coastal and Marine Environments MSc Program at the National University of Ireland Galway. Julia plans to study how the Irish biotoxin management works with the shellfish aquaculture industry. Since graduating, Julia has worked with Maine’s aquaculture industry, most notably as a volunteer with the Department of Marine Resources’ Biotoxin Monitoring program. After earning her MSc in Ireland, Julia would like to return to Maine and work with aquaculture industry on climate change adaptation.

Paige grew up in Lancaster, PA and graduated from Bowdoin in 2019 with a chemistry major and math minor. At Bowdoin she became interested in physical chemistry her junior year and began conducting research in the Takematsu lab. Paige completed an honors thesis at Bowdoin under Professor Kana Takematsu, studying excited state proton transfer in aminonaphthols. She is now working on her PhD in Chemistry at Northwestern in the Wasielewski group. Her research focuses on studying organic triplet states with optically detected magnetic resonance and exploring how entangled photons can be used for quantum transduction.

Caleb graduated from Bowdoin with a double major in Biology and Philosophy. He has since begun a PhD in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Yale University, where he studies Vertebrate Paleontology. His fellowship from the National Science Foundation will fund his graduate research on the developmental evolution of flippers in aquatic reptiles. In graduate school, Caleb has drawn extensively from his previous teaching experience, coursework, and research at Bowdoin College, where he completed an Honors Thesis in the lab of William Jackman. Caleb's current graduate work fulfills a lifelong passion for marine biology and evolution.

Maina graduated from Bowdoin in 2011 with a major in Environmental Studies and Visual Arts, and spent the next six years working as a vegetable farmer at Six River Farm in Bowdoinham, Maine. She left the farm in 2016 to pursue her passion for bird conservation, which was first ignited by the Ornithology course she took during her last semester at Bowdoin. With her NSF fellowship, Maina will be pursuing an MSc at the University of South Carolina to study the stopover ecology of the long-distance migratory shorebird Whimbrel. She hopes this new information about Whimbrel migratory behavior can inform targeted conservation action to help turn the tide for this declining species.

Sue graduated from Bowdoin in 2016 with a double major in biochemistry and classics, completing her honors thesis in the lab of Professor Anne McBride. After graduation, she worked as a research technician for two years in the lab of Dr. Thomas Bernhardt at Harvard Medical School. She is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in structural biology and biochemistry in the lab of Dr. Eunyong Park at UC Berkeley.

Yangeng (Jerry) Jiang recently graduated from Bowdoin College, majoring in Economics and Education. At Bowdoin, Jerry was the captain of the Bowdoin men’s tennis team. As a 4-time All-American and 2019 NCAA Doubles Champion, he helped the team to win Bowdoin's first NCAA Team Championship in 2016. Before joining Schwarzman Scholars, Jerry will work at Claremont-Mudd-Scripps as the assistant tennis coach and sports game manager. Jerry hopes to apply his knowledge and student-athlete experience to promote globalization and cultural exchange between China and the rest of the world through sports.

A biology and environmental studies major with a minor in English, Ayana is passionate about conservation in all its interdisciplinary complexity, approaching conservation issues as an ecologist, writer, and activist. On campus, she organizes for climate justice with Bowdoin Sunrise, leads outing club trips, researches bumblebee behavior, works for the Sustainability Office, and co-leads the Naturalists, Multiracial Student Union, and Miscellania. A Doris Duke Conservation Scholar, Ayana seeks to understand the ways social inequities impact conservation practice and plans to pursue graduate study at the intersection of science communication, biocultural conservation, & environmental justice.

Emily is an aspiring healthcare practitioner, who studied Neuroscience and Anthropology at Bowdoin. As an undergraduate, Emily conducted bench and clinical research, led a dance group, and co-facilitated dialogues about community engagement and racial identity. During a semester of comparative health study, Emily witnessed the power deep listening in a healthcare setting, as she conducted an ethnographic research project on cross-cultural prenatal care. With Watson, she hopes to travel to the Netherlands, Italy, Kenya, Bangladesh, Peru, and Mexico, and use narrative medicine as a vehicle to better understand how individuals acquire their personal notions of health and well-being.