1. W&L’s Michelle Morgan ’24 Earns Fulbright to North Macedonia

W&L's Michelle Morgan '24 Earns Fulbright to North Macedonia Morgan was selected for a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship to teach English in North Macedonia.

By Emily Innes
April 26, 2024

Washington and Lee University senior Michelle Morgan '24 has been awarded a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship (ETA) to teach English in North Macedonia. At W&L, Morgan is a political philosophy and anthropology double major. Morgan is a native of Milliken, Colorado, and graduated from Mead High School.

The ETA program in North Macedonia aims to continue strengthening the multi-faceted relationship between North Macedonia and the United States. English Teaching Assistants are primarily placed at public universities and often engage in an independent study or research project during their tenure.

Morgan believes her Fulbright experience will help her fine-tune the skills needed to pursue a career focused on domestic public service or security while allowing her to make a meaningful difference in the lives of her students.

"Being granted an ETA to North Macedonia satisfies my lifelong passions for exploration, connection and service," Morgan said. "It will broaden my horizons of knowledge and understanding and help me experience the rest of my life through a tremendously expanded lens."

For those who know Morgan, her acceptance to the ETA program does not come as a surprise. Elliott King, professor of art history at W&L, has witnessed Morgan's academic and personal growth over the past four years and is confident this opportunity will allow her to continue to make a positive impact.

"Michelle's journey from the small town of Milliken to earning a prestigious Fulbright is a testament to her unwavering enthusiasm, sharp intellect and boundless curiosity," King said. "She has consistently demonstrated excellence at W&L, but her impact extends far beyond the classroom. Michelle's compassionate nature and generous spirit radiate in every interaction - on campus, in her faith community and really with everyone fortunate enough to cross paths with her."

Morgan is a first-generation college student, a member of W&L's QuestBridge Chapter and a Bonner Scholar. Her time on campus is marked by her passion for building community and commitment to service, and Marisa Charley, associate director of the university's Shepherd Program and director of the Bonner Program, calls her sense of responsibility to others "powerful and apparent."

"Through her own example, as well as gentle, contextual guidance, Michelle empowers her peers to explore their own identities and roles with sincere respect for their experiences," Charley said. "An engaged citizen in every sense of the word, Michelle is a lifelong learner who will continue to contribute to the world in bold and dynamic ways."

Through the Bonner Program, Morgan serves as a literacy tutor with the Rockbridge Regional Library and as a volunteer classroom aide at Enderly Heights Elementary in Buena Vista, Virginia. She is also involved with Campus Kitchen at W&L, Lexington's Project Horizon, and Greenwood Cemetery in Buena Vista. She is currently partnering with the Rockbridge County Public Schools Foundation to make their grant application process more accessible to educators and works in childcare at Lexington Presbyterian Church. On campus, Morgan is a member of Pi Beta Phi sorority and an editor for the Ampersand, W&L's literary magazine.

Morgan is grateful for the guidance and encouragement she has received from her faculty mentors and the impact they have had on her college experience. She was also profoundly shaped by the opportunity to spend the 2022-23 academic year at the University of Oxford through the Mansfield College Visiting Student Programme, an experience she feels would not have been possible without W&L, Cindy Irby, associate director of the Center for International Education (CIE), and the CIE staff.

"Michelle embodies a liberal arts education by using her interdisciplinary knowledge to understand and improve the world around her, including through mentorship and teaching," said Stuart Gray, associate professor of politics, who also serves as Morgan's adviser. "Equally important, Michelle exudes open-mindedness and generosity, which will make her an excellent ambassador abroad, and I have no doubt her poetic spirit will inspire all those with whom she comes into contact."

With the Fulbright award, Morgan will depart in October 2024 for her nine-month program.

The Fulbright Program was established more than 75 years ago to increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries. Fulbright is the world's largest and most diverse international educational exchange program. The primary source of funding for the Fulbright Program is an annual appropriation made by the U.S. Congress to the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.

Washington and Lee University is proud to be included on the list of U.S. colleges and universities that produced the most 2023-2024 Fulbright U.S. Students for the sixth consecutive year.

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