Nine Middlebury Students and Alumni Receive Fulbright Awards

Nine Middlebury College students and recent alumni have received Fulbright Student Awards for international travel and study during the 2024-25 academic year. The Middlebury cohort is part of the 2,000 students selected from more than 10,000 applicants in the United States. Seven of the Middlebury recipients have been awarded English Teaching Assistantships while two more received research/study awards.

Middlebury College was recently placed among the top 12 colleges and universities for the number of grants received from the Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program and the Fulbright U.S. Student Program. Middlebury is one of only two Baccalaureate institutions to appear on both lists.

Following is a list of this year’s Middlebury recipients with excerpts from their project descriptions:

Sydney Armor ’24, an international and global studies major from Rancho Mirage, California, has received a study/research award for Austria.

“My project seeks to explore place and identity in culturally gendered roles among migrant women in Austria,” wrote Armor in her proposal. “I will work with Graz-based DIVAN, an entity of the organization Caritas, which provides native language counseling for migrant women, mostly from Eastern Europe and the Middle East, who have been victims of honor-based violence and forced marriage.”

Claire Babbott-Bryan ’23, an environmental studies and anthropology major from Northampton, Massachusetts, has received an English Teaching Assistantship for Mexico.

“Teaching English in Mexico will provide the necessary linguistic and cultural exchange for my involvement in community based climate work,” Babbott-Bryan wrote in her proposal. “My current Spanish Climate fellowship with UC Berkeley is a great example: I collaborate with California farmworkers, many of whom are Mexican, to provide access to organic farming practices and techniques. I will certainly be a more effective colleague and communicator for future work like this after an ETA in Mexico.”

Sophia Bardetti ’22, a global security major and global health minor from Andover, Massachusetts, has received an English Teaching Assistantship for Morocco.

“I am passionate about language learning and cross-cultural education,” Bardetti wrote in her proposal. “Morocco’s rich linguistic diversity and vibrant cultural landscape will allow me to merge these passions. I am enthusiastic about language learning because it opens doors for intercultural communication and in turn, the broadening of perspectives. I currently teach refugees in Boston and have completed my TESOL certification.”

Olivia Dixon ’24, an international and global studies, global migration and diaspora studies major and international studies minor from Chicago, Illinois, has received an English Teaching Assistantship for Spain.

“I want to be an English Teaching Assistant in Spain because I want to teach English using cross-cultural pedagogy in an increasingly diverse country at the primary level,” wrote Dixon in her proposal. “During my semester abroad studying in Spain, I took classes at a local university and I learned how Spanish professors incorporated cross-cultural practices at the university level. I hope to learn from this opportunity and explore the regional differences in the approach to education, specifically at the primary because it is an important stage in cognitive development.”

Demetra (Alex) Evangelidis ’24, a global studies major and political science minor from Hastings on Hudson, New York, has received an English Teaching Assistantship award for Germany.

“I want to be a part of the Fulbright ETA program in Germany because I deeply believe in its mission to expand cultural understanding and exchange between our two countries,” wrote Evangelidis in her proposal. “Teaching English is the perfect platform for me to take part in this cultural exchange…I am particularly passionate about teaching those with immigrant backgrounds because I have lived through the challenges they face and understand the opportunities that learning English brings.”

Edwin Fan ’24, an economics major and math minor from Mountain Brook, Alabama, has received an English Teaching Assistantship for Vietnam.

“My dedication to engaging with students in Vietnam and facilitating their English language proficiency is deeply rooted in my educational background, diverse teaching experiences, and passion for Vietnamese people and culture,” wrote Fan in his proposal. “During the summer of my junior year, I spent a month teaching English to 50 7-14 year olds in Cieneguita, a quaint rural town in Panama. Even though I was teaching a foreign language in one environment and in another I was teaching debate skills, I was helping them find new avenues to express themselves and their ideas.”

Alexandra Massa ’21, a neuroscience major and Spanish and global health minor from Medford, Massachusetts, has received an English Teaching Assistantship award for Mexico.

“I am interested in the importance of indigenous culture within the society and the growing global influence of the country,” Massa wrote in her proposal. “I am fascinated by the role of indigenous art tradition on today’s creators and their use of art as a voice to include indigenous culture’s profound influence in cultural conversations. At the same time, Mexico’s recent history of education reform is notable as another important cultural conversation in today’s schools. I see academic triumphs and improving standardized outcomes as essential to giving Mexican students a voice in these conversations on the world stage.”

Elizabeth (Ellie) Suit ’24, a physics major and computer science and mathematics minor from Avon, Connecticut, has received a study/research award for Belgium.

“I plan to join the Theory of Quantum and Complex Systems (TQC) group at the University of Antwerp, led by Professor Dr. Jacques Tempere, to contribute to their work in ultracold atomic physics,” wrote Suit in her proposal. “This approach to studying atomic behavior allows physicists to better understand superfluids, a quantum material that can flow with no loss of kinetic energy. Superfluids are key to developing the technologically important superconductor, a material that would increase efficiency of technological devices, such as computer chips and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machines, and reduce their power demand.”

Kenta Togo ’23, a mathematics and Spanish major from Mount Kisco, New York, has received an English Teaching Assistantship for Costa Rica.

“Engaging with a Costa Rican community would allow me to grow as a Spanish speaker and learn about Costa Rican culture,” Toto wrote in his proposal. “I would be especially excited to do this in a rural community because of the greater possibilities for language and culture immersion compared to a big city.”