Will Jones, a 2020 graduate of AL and former news editor of the Echoes, has earned a Fulbright Scholarship, a prestigious program that encourages others to share their home-country’s culture. Jones was one of the 16 alumni from the University of Iowa to be selected from more than 10,000 applicants.
“The idea is you’re an American and you are representing America in a positive way and sharing your ideas from the United States,” said Jones.
This program offers those who earned the scholarship the opportunity to go to a country and either teach or research English to students. This program is partnered with more than 140 countries. The individual must show they can understand the language of the country hosting them, so they can adjust to the new environment.
“The idea is that, a professor described it to me at one point, when they originally funded the program they sold a bunch of old World War II era weapons. The idea was essentially to sell guns and get rid of guns and use that money to create partnerships with others around the world and establish peace. The idea is to be a citizen diplomat. There are different ways to do that through Fulbright. One of the common ones, historically, is a graduate program exchange. There would be partnerships with universities and institutions around the world and a lot of it is research based. You propose a research project and then go over there.”
Jones is going to Germany to be a teaching assistant for English.
“The one I’m in is Germany. You can apply to one grant overall and that’s the one I chose. For Germany, how they’ll do it is they will place in a couple months. They’ll place me in a German High School and I’ll join one of their English classrooms, which is a required class, pass the 6th grade in Germany. I’ll be someone who can speak on the culture of the country and also English grammar, teaching as a native speaker.” said Jones.
Jones said that this program will help him in achieving both his academic, a masters degree, and personal goals, showing the people of Council Bluffs they can get into programs like Fulbright.
“In college my minor was German Language. So one easy goal is more exposure and practice in real world situations that you can only get in the country that speaks the language you study. Long-Term would be to be a diplomat or to work in the diplomatic field. This is a good opportunity to practice the cross-cultural skills you can find. . . For my future career plans, it will be a good way to put my foot in the door. Also help me pursue things like a masters degree, different career paths, feel those out,” said Jones.
“On a personal level, I think getting this scholarship in the sense that the attitude with people, not just from AL but from Council Bluffs in general, there is a self defeatism, a self defeating attitude people have. So when someone from our community is able to do something that seems unattainable, not necessarily unattainable but hard to get. I think this is something people can get if they set their mind to. It goes against that narrative and gives people an idea of what they can achieve even if they are from Council Bluffs or somewhere else.”
