English Major Elodie Huston Wins a Fulbright

After graduating from Fordham this spring with a major in English, Elodie Huston will be setting off to Germany as a Fulbright teaching assistant. Initially drawn to Germany because of her heritage, Elodie is excited to immerse herself in the German classroom, assist teachers, and discover how Germany’s education system promotes socio-economic equality. Elodie expects that this hands-on experience will enlighten her future graduate work in education policy.

Since high school, Elodie has sustained an interested in teaching. Thanks to a service learning course during her first semester, Elodie volunteered at an after school program in Hell’s Kitchen and developed an interest in education policy. This experience and others like it have piqued Elodie's passion for serving marginalized students, and she is excited to help refugee children acclimate to the German school system. Elodie is particularly interested in better understanding the scholastic programs the country has established for these students.

Elodie finds that her experiences as a Fordham English major were integral to her sustained interest in education and success as a Fulbright recipient. Professor Vranjes, Professor Stone, and Professor Sherman encouraged her to examine how her teaching experiences added texture to the theories and narratives that she explored in class. Elodie is excited to take what she has learned at Fordham, particularly her writing skills, and transfer it to her teaching practice.

Elodie notes that it truly took a village to help her prepare the Fulbright application. Starting in June after her junior year, Elodie sought the help of Dr. Rebecca Stark-Gendrano and Dr. Anna Beskin (English PhD, Fordham '14 and '16) in the Office of Prestigious Fellowships. Elodie was also assisted by Professors Vranjes, Stone, Sherman, and Ebner as she perfected her essays and prepared for her interview. Elodie describes the selection process as particularly suspenseful. After submitting her essays in October 2017, Elodie had an interview and then, had to wait until January 2018 to find out if she was a semi-finalist; the decision finally came in late March. While reflecting upon this nearly year-long experience, Elodie notes that it was easy to become lost amidst her countless essays drafts. She recommends that prospective applicants make a list of the reasons to apply and revisit it when the process becomes daunting. According to her “if you can return to what drew you to that path originally, it will all be much clearer (and your writing may benefit from it, too).”