Simison ’11 Awarded Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship to Spain

Kathryn Simison ’11, of West Suffield, Conn., has been awarded a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship to Spain. A Spanish major with a concentration in Peace and Conflict Studies, she will teach English in the northern region of Cantabria, Spain. She leaves for her 10-month stay in September.

In an effort to expand the English program at the high school, Simison will work with the Fulbright program and Global Classrooms, a program of the United Nations Foundation that introduces middle and high school students to pressing international issues and the work of the UN. She also hopes to work as a cultural advisor to students traveling to Spain for the first time.

Simison hopes to translate these experiences into a career in international community development. She plans to work for or start her own study abroad organization where she can work with both Spanish students who wish to study in America, and vice versa.

“I hope to bridge the cultural gap between the two countries and allow for more students to have a broader, more international view of the world. I want more young people to get out of their comfort zone and go beyond their small communities to explore what the world has to offer,” she says.

At Holy Cross, Simison has been heavily involved in Spanish culture and language. She spent her junior year studying abroad in La Coruña and, this year, worked with the Study Abroad department as a cultural ambassador and mentor for students going to Spain next year. She also served as a Spanish tutor, president of Sigma Delta Pi (the Spanish national honors society), and has written several original pieces for the yearly bilingual English-Spanish journal, “fósforo.” In addition, she has served as manager for the men’s lacrosse team, and was involved in the Women in Business Conference.

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.

Read about this year's other Holy Cross Fulbright Grant recipients: Francesca Bruzzese ’11, Jennifer Caffrey '11, Kerry Drury ’11, Kristen Dunlap '08, Herma Gjinko '11, William Grebe ’11, Jamie McCarthy '11, Thomas McGlynn '11 and Abigail Chorlton Riskind ’11.