Ms. LaFontaine is exploring Korea, learning the language, and sampling local foods.

Ms. LaFontaine is exploring Korea, learning the language, and sampling local foods.

Graduate thrilled to capture Fulbright Scholarship

Ashley A. LaFontaine, '09, has been awarded a Fulbright U.S. Student grant to teach English as a foreign language in South Korea.

Ms. LaFontaine is a resident of Wausau, Wis., who majored in biology. She is one of over 1,500 U.S. citizens who will travel abroad for the 2009-2010 academic year through the Fulbright U.S. Student Program. She has been admitted to study medicine at the American University of Antigua, but will delay the start of her studies for a year to teach English at a middle school or high school.

"She's really adventurous," says Dan Choffnes, assistant professor of biology at Carthage. "She's always been interested in the international component of her education, she's always been comfortable abroad."

At Carthage, Ms. LaFontaine was involved in research and service activities in the biology department and on campus. She conducted field ecology research, which she presented at a regional conference at Washington University in St. Louis two years ago. She was president of the pre-health students club (2007-9), where she organized fundraisers for Carthage's medical mission in Nicaragua. She has served the department as an assistant in the Anatomy & Physiology classes, and participated in a J-Term trip to Costa Rica.

Ms. LaFontaine's interest in Korea was sparked by stories her father told about his two assignments to that country while serving in the U.S. Army. She has also traveled to Egypt.

"It was a long wait to hear the news that I was accepted for the scholarship, and I still remember that phone call from my mother," she wrote in an e-mail from South Korea. "I even remember running down to Straz at Carthage, passing a million people I wanted to tell, and went straight to Heg's office to tell him. I have never felt so accomplished in my life than at that moment in time."

"Heg" is Scott Hegrenes, assistant professor of biology.

"He was the first person I wanted to tell because we had worked together very closely in the SURE program, I traveled to Costa Rica and Nicaragua with him, and he really helped me throughout my years at Carthage and pushed me to try even harder and do my best in everything," Ms. LaFontaine wrote. "He truly was and still is a great mentor."

Carthaginians can follow her experiences as a Fulbright scholar on her blog, ashleyinkorea.livejournal.com.

The Fulbright Program, America's flagship international educational exchange program, is sponsored by the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. Since its establishment in 1946 approximately 111,000 Americans have studied, taught or researched abroad and 183,000 students, scholars and teachers from other countries have engaged in similar activities in the United States - with the opportunity to observe each others' political, economic, educational and cultural institutions, and exchange ideas. The program operates in over 155 countries worldwide.

Last year, Stephanie Coulis, '08, and Emily Mulder, '08, were selected as Fulbright recipients, going to France and Germany, respectively. Among the thousands of prominent Fulbright alumni are: 2006 Nobel Peace Price recipient Muhammad Yunus, managing director and founder, Grameen Bank; Javier Solana, Foreign Policy Chief, European Union; Brown University president Ruth Simmons; Craig Barrett, chairman, Intel Corporation; Shamshad Akhtar, first woman to serve as Governor, State Bank of Pakistan; Alejandro Jara, deputy director-general, World Trade Organization; Florida Supreme Court Justice Raoul Cantero; soprano Renee Fleming; architect Daniel Libeskind; and CNN Middle East correspondent Aneesh Raman.

— Bill Kurtz, Carthage College