CONWAY, Ark. (July 22, 2014) – Sara Hales, who graduated this spring from Hendrix with a degree in
classics, was selected for a 2014-2015 Fulbright U.S. Student Award to Italy.
Following an orientation in Rome in the first week of
October, Hales, a Conway native, will teach at two secondary schools – Istituto
Tecnico Commerciale “Paolo Savi” and Liceo Ginnasio “M. Buratti” in the
city of Viterbo, located in the Lazio Region.
The Fulbright Program is the flagship international
educational exchange program of the United States. Hales will represent the
United States as a cultural ambassador while she is overseas, helping to
enhance mutual understanding between Americans and the people in Italy. She will join more than
100,000 Fulbright U.S. Student Program alumni who have undertaken grants since
the program began in 1946.
“Since
the summer of 2011, when I participated in the Hendrix-in-Florence program and
spent a month absorbing the language and culture of that historic city, I have
been anxious to get back to Italy,” Hales said. “As a classicist, all of Italy
is fascinating to me, but having an assignment so close to Rome is a dream. I
am thrilled that I will get to see, in person, the places and monuments that I
learned about in my classics courses at Hendrix. But I am more thrilled for the
adventure that will be making personal connections with people from another
continent. To live and work with Italians for nine months, to teach students
who have so much to teach me about their home and culture, is the opportunity
of a lifetime.”
“Of
course I have a lot to share about the English language and American culture,
but I have just as much to learn about the Italian language and culture, and
how the Italian identity manifests in the people of Viterbo,” she said. “The
teaching experience that I will gain over the next year will benefit me when I
return to the States, since I hope to become a professor and will be teaching
undergrad courses while I pursue my PhD. But the mutual exchange of language
and culture, and language as culture, that I get to participate in will be just
as important in helping me to expand myself and my perspective as I move
forward in this ever-more-global society. Fulbright has given me the
opportunity to share part of myself with people who want to share themselves,
and that exchange is priceless.”
“My
four years at Hendrix College have prepared me so well for this upcoming year.
I was always interested in learning Italian, but Hendrix-in-Florence allowed me
to really pursue that interest the summer after my freshman year. That
experience opened my eyes to the beauty of Italian life and language,” Hales
said. “Since then, my work in classics has intersected with various aspects of
modern-day Italy, and I will carry that knowledge and those connections with me
next year. I also cannot say enough good things about the Hendrix faculty who
taught me how to write and present well. My communication skills are going to
get a workout in Viterbo, so I'm grateful to those who have prepared me for
that.”
Founded in 1876, Hendrix College is a national leader in
engaged liberal arts and sciences education. For the sixth consecutive year,
Hendrix was named one of the country’s “Up and Coming” liberal arts colleges by
U.S. News and World Report. Hendrix is featured in the latest edition of Colleges That Change Lives: 40 Schools That Will Change
the Way You Think about Colleges,
as well as the 2014 Princeton Review’s The Best 378 Colleges, Forbes magazine's list of America's Top Colleges, and
the 2014 Fiske Guide to Colleges. Hendrix has been affiliated with the United
Methodist Church since 1884. For more information, visit www.hendrix.edu.