Minnesota State Mankato student Melissa Siebke has been awarded a Fulbright scholarship and will travel to Spain for the 2006-2007 academic year to teach English as a foreign language.
Siebke, who recently graduated from MSU with a master's degree in English as a second language, says she will be working in a bilingual elementary school in Madrid as an English teaching assistant.
"I will be able to apply the knowledge that I have learned in a real-world context," she said.
Siebke also earned her bachelor's degree and another master's degree from MSU, and for the past four years has worked as a Spanish and French teaching assistant at MSU.
Siebke says she's also willing to work with schools interested in hearing about her experience or that would simply like more information about Spain or Spanish-speaking countries and cultures.
"My scholarship is an exchange of cultures and I would like to serve as an ambassador of the U.S. while in Spain," she said. "But I would also like to allow people in the U.S. to learn more about Spain as well."
Siebke is one of more than 1,200 U.S. residents who will travel abroad through the Fulbright Student Program, although The Free Press was unable to determine if any other MSU students or students from other area colleges had received Fulbrights.
Established in 1946 under legislation introduced by the late Sen. J. William Fulbright of Arkansas, the program's purpose is to build mutual understanding between Americans and the rest of the world.
The Fulbright Program, America's flagship international educational exchange program, is sponsored by the U.S. State Department's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. Since its inception, the Fulbright Program has exchanged about 273,500 people — 102,900 Americans who have studied, taught or researched abroad and 170,600 students, scholars and teachers from other countries who have come to the United States.
The program operates in more than 150 countries worldwide.
Schools can reach Siebke at 2160 Havana Road, Owatonna, MN 55060. She's also available at m_siebke@yahoo.com.
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