15 June 2020 Smith '18, MAT '19 Earns 2019 Fulbright Award

This month, Miranda Smith '18, MAT '19 was named the recipient of a 2019 U.S. Student Fulbright Award to Malaysia. The award will support Smith as she undertakes an English Teaching Assistantship in that country in January of 2020.

Currently pursuing her masters in teaching at HWS, Smith hopes that the academic, cultural, economic and language differences she will encounter in Malaysia will enable her to "become a more responsive teacher and translate these practices of inclusivity to a new generation of students wherever I may teach."

Smith is one of six HWS students to receive at 2019 Fulbright Award.

At HWS, Smith has accumulated more than 150 hours teaching in elementary school classrooms. She completed her practicum as part of the HWS Teacher Education Program in the Geneva area and, while studying abroad in South Africa, taught in a fourth-grade classroom in a rural township. She has worked in special education classrooms, English language learners, and with isiXhosa-speaking students in South Africa. Together, these experiences have shown her how to navigate working with different learners, as well as "taught me the ways education is intertwined with society," she says. "Being awarded an ETA will serve as a way to learn about the diverse culture of Malaysia through doing what I love to do, teach."

Smith graduated magna cum laude in 2018 with a degree in sociology. As a student, she served as the 2019 Orientation Coordinator and a sociology teaching fellow. She worked in the HWS Office of Advancement and as a part-time caregiver with New Horizons Resources Inc., engaging one-on-one with a child with autism. She was a participant in the 2018 Senior Symposium and a number of service events through the Center for Community Engagement and Service Learning. In 2018, she was recognized with the Judith Cross 52 Award for outstanding service and engagement.

The Fulbright Program is the U.S. Government's flagship international exchange program. Created in 1949, the program is designed to increase mutual understanding between the people of the U.S. and numerous nations around the world. Participants are chosen for their academic merit and leadership qualities, and are given the opportunity to study, live, teach and conduct research abroad for one year in order to exchange ideas and seek solutions to shared global concerns.

In 2018, for the third year in a row, Hobart and William Smith were recognized as one of the nations top colleges and universities with the most recipients of U.S. Fulbright Student Awards.

HWS students interested in applying for Fulbright awards should contact the Salisbury Center for Career, Professional and Experiential Education at cso@hws.edu.