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Jessica Livingston ’17, majoring in Graphic Design and Public Relations, has been offered a Fulbright Fellowship to teach English in the Czech Republic. She has extensive teaching experience both from her time as a teaching assistant for nonverbal autistic students and as a Writing Fellow in the Brainard Writing Center. In both contexts Jess developed visual learning strategies to make difficult concepts more accessible to her students, culminating in the design of a research-based “Visual Learners Kit” for tutors working with international students. She plans to apply these visual learning strategies as an English Teaching Assistant in the Czech Republic.

In addition to guiding English language lessons, the Wheeling, Illinois native hopes to draw on her own background to give Czech students an intercultural perspective of American life. While out in her host community, Jess hopes to start an informal scrapbooking group where she can develop personal ties with Czech people, immerse herself in local culture, and learn some Czech language. “Czech culture will become a part of the way I view the world,” she wrote in her application essay, “and I will carry that perspective with me throughout my own studies, as well as the future classrooms where I will teach and encourage students to learn beyond the pages of a textbook.” After completing her Fulbright year, Jess plans to undertake graduate studies with the intent to one day become a professor.

The Fulbright Fellowship is the premier program of cultural and educational exchange for American students, supported by the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.

Congratulations to Jessica Livingston on her Fulbright Fellowship!