Sydnor selected for Fulbright ETA to South Korea

Roanoke senior Tessa Sydnor has earned a second opportunity to live in South Korea and pursue her passion for the culture and art of the region. In July, she'll return to South Korea, this time through the Fulbright ETA program. In 2013, the literary studies major studied in South Korea with the Gilman Scholarship program.

Sydnor has received a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant grant to South Korea from the U.S. Department of State and the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board. Sydnor will represent the United States as a cultural ambassador while overseas, helping to enhance mutual understanding between Americans and the people in South Korea. She joins over 100,000 Fulbright U.S. Student Program alumni who have undertaken grants since the program began in 1948.

Sydnor is one of over 1,900 U.S. citizens who will teach, conduct research, and provide expertise abroad for the 2016-2017 academic year through the Fulbright Program. Recipients of Fulbright awards are selected on the basis of academic and professional achievement as well as record of service and demonstrated leadership in their respective fields.

Sydnor, who lives in Lynchburg now, has lived much of her life in Austria and France. Her mother is German and her father is American. His work with refugees has been a big influence on her. Sydnor is fluent in German and English. She also speaks French and "survival level Korean," she says. "I often practice Korean with our Korean exchange students."

On campus, Sydnor is involved in the East Asia Festival and has been described as an "unofficial international student advocate/ambassador."

"I've been interested in the culture for a long time, especially the arts," said Sydnor of Lynchburg, Va. On her Gilman Scholarship trip to South Korea, she studied ceramics at Ewah Women's University in Seoul.

"I have been impressed with Tessa since her freshman year, not only for her width and depth of intellectual curiosity, but also for her unfailing effort to work on every assignment close to the level of perfection," Dr. Stella Xu, of Roanoke's history department, said. "I am sure she will be one of the most desirable English teachers in Korea."

Sydnor said it's hard to trace her interest to South Korea back to its source. "I play piano passionately and I had a South Korean piano teacher when I lived in Austria so I think that may be where the interest developed," she said.

For the Fulbright year, Sydnor will be living with a host family. "Linguistically, that will be cultural immersion for sure," she said. While there, she will work at a school full time, teaching or assisting with English classes. Her other Fulbright assignment is to get to know the culture. She's still considering how she will do that but it may involve more art classes. Sydnor said she "loves art, watercolors and ceramics in Korea." She also has an interest in papermaking.

In addition to the semester in South Korea as a Gilman Scholar, Sydnor spent last summer on the Roanoke campus as a Summer Scholar, working with her faculty mentor, Dr. Virginia Stewart. Her research project was focused on Representing the Refugee Experience.

"Tessa is a scholar to her core," Stewart said. "She not only researches, analyzes, and organizes her thoughts with an indefatigable energy and discipline, but she finds joy in the every part of the process. Thus, she's a joy to work with."

While on her Fulbright year, Sydnor will be applying to graduate school with an eventual goal of getting her masters degree in theology and a Ph.D. in literature.

Roanoke is now listed among the Fulbright program's top producers, a prestigious honor earned by Roanoke and Roanoke students for three consecutive years.

The Fulbright Program is the flagship international educational exchange program sponsored by the U.S. government. This year marks the 70th anniversary of the Fulbright Program's establishment in 1946 under legislation introduced by U.S. Senator J. William Fulbright of Arkansas. Since then, the Program has given more than 360,000 students, scholars, teachers, artists, and scientists the opportunity to study, teach and conduct research, exchange ideas, and contribute to finding solutions to shared international concerns.

Fulbrighters address critical global challenges - from sustainable energy and climate change to public health and food security - in all areas, while building relationships, knowledge, and leadership in support of the long-term interests of the United States and the world. Fulbright alumni have achieved distinction in many fields, including 54 who have been awarded the Nobel Prize, 82 who have received Pulitzer Prizes, and 33 who have served as a head of state or government.