Krista Lange had her first taste of life in Germany when she lived with a family in Hamburg for six weeks in 2002. Now, she will get to spend an entire school year there.
Lange, a graduate student and teaching assistant at Cal State Long Beach, has been chosen along with another graduate student, Roma Claudia Hernandez, and CSULB professor of African Studies, Lionel Mandy, for the Fulbright Program scholarships.
The Fulbright English Teaching Assistance scholarship includes round-trip airfare and monthly stipends during the 2010-11 academic year. The program is the largest U.S. international exchange program, promoting international study, research and teaching worldwide.
“I couldn’t believe it. I cried when I found out about the award and called my family,” she said.
Lange grew up in Yorba Linda and went to El Dorado High School in Placentia. She has a bachelor’s degree from Chapman University in Business Administration of International Business and a double major in German. She is currently studying for her master’s degree at CSULB and also works at the university as a teaching assistant for German courses.
She will be living in the city of Saarbruecken, where she will be teaching high school students the cultural aspects of the English language.
“I hope to learn how to become a better teacher and how to connect on a greater level with the students,” Lange said. “I am also excited to learn about another part of Germany which I have never been to before. It is the day-to-day tasks which I think will teach me the most, and, so, I am excited for just living there and taking it all in.”
Lange said she has dreamed of working internationally since her first visit to Germany when she was 16.
“When choosing a course of study, I sought a path which would lead me to a job I would love,” Lange said.
“There are roughly 140 spots for American students for this particular scholarship. I submitted my application and two essays for the scholarship in October 2009 and was interviewed by an on-campus panel,” Lange said. “I then had to resubmit my documents in March after making it through the first round, but this time everything needed to be in German.”
Linda Olsen-Levy, advisor of Education Abroad/International Scholarship, said Fulbright’s criteria of selecting the scholarship recipients consists of cumulative GPA, scholastic accomplishments, faculty recommendations, teaching experience and two essays revolving around the candidate and what makes them the ideal person to represent Fulbright abroad.
“It’s a 3-pronged system,” Olsen-Levy explained. “First, the committee reads the applicants’ two essays and evaluates their applications. Then, they meet with the candidate and interview him/her.”
Olsen-Levy said applications are forwarded to a group that processes and divides the documents into the appropriate country and fields of study. A screening committee meets in late November to make a final ranking of the applicants. Finally, the host nation has their own selection committee and they make the final decision on whom they would like to have as Fulbrighters.
When she returns to Long Beach, Lange plans on finishing her graduate degree in the spring of 2012. “I’m learning that having a set goal is not always a good thing to have,” she said. “But to have a direction and to have fun and to learn during the journey is what life is really all about.”
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