Graduating Glynn seniors Amber Grimmer and Maria Rossi have each been awarded the Fulbright English Teaching Award to teach English in a foreign country. Interestingly, both scholars will be working in two of Europe’s smallest countries.
While at Notre Dame, Amber pursued an International Economics major with a concentration in Spanish along with a supplementary major in Peace Studies and a minor in Poverty Studies. She will be teaching English in Andorra, a tiny country nestled in the Pyrenees Mountains where the predominant languages are French, Spanish, and Catalan. “I applied for Fulbright, specifically to Andorra, primarily because of my passion for languages and a special interest in bilingual education,” writes Amber. After the Fulbright, Amber hopes to continue to work in English-language education and tutoring and plans to pursue a career in multilingual education, international development, or peacebuilding.
Maria majored in Psychology with a supplementary major in Peace Studies. She will teach English in Luxembourg, a multilingual setting where the official languages are German, French, and Luxembourgish. Maria finds the blending of German and French cultures with the native Luxembourgish culture particularly attractive: “I think that kind of multiculturalism and multilingualism is fascinating, and I’m looking forward to experiencing it.” For her post-Fulbright plans, Maria hopes to work in the international arena either with the US government or with an international non-profit organization.
Both scholars share much in common, first and foremost their friendship. Having met in the Glynn Humanities seminar, they took Peace Studies and French classes together, and have been great friends throughout their ND careers. They each had significant international study-abroad experience – Maria in Morocco and Amber in Chile. While studying abroad, they also taught English but had to pick up a new language in their respective settings: Maria learned Arabic in order to teach English to Arabic-language students while Amber honed her Spanish skills and learned Creole in order to tutor Haitian immigrants in Santiago. Now while they teach English in tiny countries on opposite sides of France, they hope to continue to develop their friendship, their language skills, and their service to the global community.
Congratulations Amber and Maria!