Trek to Czech — MSU student lands Fulbright Scholarship

Like so many of us, Rachel Schober wants to visit countries across the world and learn about their cultures.

The Missouri State University English education graduate student is getting the opportunity to do just that thanks to the Fulbright Scholarship she received for the upcoming academic year.

The Fulbright Scholarship is a federal program that allows students and professionals to live in other countries to study, conduct research or exercise other talents. The program is very selective and has few recipients. Schober was one of those few selected for the Fall 2015 semester and will soon travel across the Atlantic for a ten-month cultural exchange program in the Czech Republic.

“Since I was a little girl I’ve always wanted to live abroad for a year,” said Schober. “A couple of years ago, during my undergraduate education, I took a course abroad in the Czech Republic over the summer and ever since I’ve been back I’ve been trying to figure out how to visit again.”

Schober spent five weeks in the Czech Republic for an intensive language course, but she says she gained very minimal Czech language. She looks forward to learning more of the language and about the culture of the Czech people.

“At the end of August, I’ll travel to a small town in the Czech Republic that hasn’t had many English speakers visit,” said Schober. “I’ll work with the local school for about 20 hours each week helping the students and teachers with English lessons. It’s both a language and a cultural exchange really.”

Schober currently works with Missouri State as a graduate research assistant at the Ozarks Writing Project, which is a part of the National Writing Project.

Over the past two years, she has used a grant to visit local school districts and help them write professional development documents, as well as showing teachers different ways to instruct students and monitoring how it improves student performance. But where she’s about to go, not many people speak English.

“I’m going to be really relying on my Czech skills,” said Schober. “I’m hoping for it to be a meaningful language and cultural exchange for them as well as for me.”

By Shay Stowell, University Communications graduate assistant