Hayden ’10 Awarded Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship to Turkey

Connor Hayden ’10, of Bradford, Mass., has been awarded a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship to Turkey, where he says his interests and goals will lead him to the next step for his professional and personal development.

A classics major in the College Honors Program, Hayden will teach English from August to June of next year. He leaves for Turkey next month to attend a language and culture program in Istanbul.

Hayden’s interest in culture and travel started during his study abroad experience at the Intercollegiate Center for Classical Studies in Rome during the spring semester of 2009. He applied for the Fulbright because he has a desire to teach, travel, learn a new language and to serve.

At Holy Cross, Hayden has been involved in service and social justice. He was a member of Best Buddies, a group dedicated to enhancing the lives of people with intellectual disabilities by providing opportunities for one-to-one friendships; African Community Education Program through Student Programs for Urban Development (SPUD); and Alpha Sigma Nu, which honors students of Jesuit institutions of higher learning who embody and live out the values of scholarship, loyalty, leadership, and service.

“There are too many things to see and do; a boundless world awaits and I fear that if I turn a deaf ear to its call I will miss the opportunity to experience it,” he wrote in his personal statement to the Fulbright Program. “An ETA would allow me to teach and serve by educating my students about American culture and the English language, opening their minds to the world beyond Turkey while they open mine to their native land.”

Hayden already has formal experience in teaching. Last summer, he taught an English as a Second Language course at Northfield Mount Hermon in Mount Hermon, Mass. Many of the international students enrolled in the summer program were from Turkey.

As a guitarist of 14 years, eight of which have been semi-professional, he hopes to transmit the language and culture of American music, as well as learning as much as possible of Turkish language, culture, and music. Hayden was co-chair of the Student Musician Coalition at Holy Cross.

Each year approximately 1,000 college students are awarded grants through the Fulbright Program, the U.S. government’s flagship program in international educational exchange. Fulbright grants are made to U.S. citizens and nationals of other countries for a variety of educational activities, primarily university lecturing, advanced research, graduate study and teaching in elementary and secondary schools. Since the program’s inception in 1946, more than 250,000 participants — chosen for their leadership potential — have had the opportunity to observe each other’s political, economic and cultural institutions.