William & Mary alumni who have won Fulbright Scholarships this year are packing their things and heading all over the world – from Austria to Vietnam and half a dozen other spots.

William & Mary has a long history of producing Fulbright Scholars, and the university’s global reach has been confirmed once again as nine recent graduates and alumni received the highly selective grants; one additional graduate was selected as an alternate.

The Fulbright U.S. Student program is an international academic exchange program designed to increase international understanding and collaboration. Applicants are evaluated based on academic performance, experience and training, linguistic proficiency and extracurricular activities.

Earlier this year, the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs named William & Mary a top-producing institution of Fulbright U.S. Students for the 2024-2025 academic year. Since 1949, W&M has produced more than 200 Fulbright awardees in addition to this year’s recipients.

W&M’s student Fulbright awardees for the 2025-2026 academic year are Talia Snyder Romero ’25, Sean Nguyen ’24, Daniella Marx ’25, Adelaide Meade ’25,  Enya Xiang ’25, Myra Simbulan ’25, Hannah Ray ’25, Erin Spalding ’23, M.Ed. ’24 and Justin Horowitz ’25. Additionally, Kai Werner, a Ph.D. candidate, was selected as an alternate and may be promoted to finalist if additional funding becomes available.

The Fulbright Program is a collaborative effort between the U.S. and more than 160 countries worldwide. Fulbright fellowships and scholarships provide opportunities for students, educators, professionals and scholars to teach English, pursue graduate studies or conduct research in locations around the globe.

This year, eight of W&M’s recipients received English Teaching Assistantships for locations in Spain, Vietnam, Azerbaijan, Taiwan, Austria, Thailand and Georgia. Another awardee will conduct research in Sri Lanka.

Meet some of this year’s recipients

During her sophomore year, Snyder Romero spent a semester in Spain through a William & Mary study abroad program. She fell head over heels. “After I came back from Seville, I was talking about it all the time because I adored it,” she said. “I couldn’t wait to go back.”   

Her Fulbright will take her to the other side of the country, to the northwest region known as Galicia. She’ll be teaching English at a vocational school in Santiago de Compestella, best known as the terminus of the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage route. 

She majored in psychology with a minor in Hispanic Studies and speaks Spanish fluently – her mother is from Colombia. Now all she needs is a place to live. “I don’t have anything arranged yet but there are a lot of English teachers in the area and I have joined groups on Facebook and What’s App.” She has some time: she’s not due in Madrid for orientation until September 8. 

Xiang, a history major with a minor in German, is headed to Austria, to a school on the Swiss border in the small town of Dornbirn. Her interest in the region has biological roots: She was born in Germany when her parents were studying there.

“My parents studied in Würzburg, Germany, as post-graduate students, which is what inspired me to learn German in my freshman year,” Xiang said. “I have always been passionate about cultural exchange and language learning, having also studied in Scotland through the Joint Degree Programme with St. Andrews. 

She’s been assigned to teach English to Austrian middle and high school students. 

When she was a freshman at W&M, Xiang lived in the same residence hall as Nguyen, a double major in public policy and history. Now they are both Fulbright winners. 

Nguyen applied for a Fulbright last year and was named an alternate. Disappointed, he shifted gears, applied and was accepted to New York University School of Law while working for a law firm in Washington, D.C. 

But his dream of being fully immersed in a classroom setting did not dissipate. He re-applied this year and won a Fulbright to teach English at a high school for gifted students in Lai Chau, Vietnam, a provincial city 300 miles northwest of Hanoi, the nation’s capital. 

The son of Vietnamese immigrants, Nguyen has a good working command of the language although he will receive two hours a week of Vietnamese language instruction while teaching. 

His assignment begins in August. A huge pickleball fan, he is bringing his paddle since he’s been told the sport is popular there, too. He will also be the coach of the English language competition team.

“Think of it like a Model UN that travels to every provincial town to compete with other students learning English,” he said. 

His advice for others thinking about Fulbright or other fellowship opportunities is not to get discouraged if you aren’t chosen your first time applying. “Obviously not being chosen last year was not the outcome I wanted, but I used the year for redirection and to present an even better application this time,” he said. “Stay resilient.” 

Spalding also found herself on the waitlist last year. This year, she’s off to Thailand. 

She spent the year after receiving her master’s in elementary education and a certification in English as a second language, teaching sixth grade in Fairfax County. “I loved it. I loved my students. It made it a little bit hard to say yes to the Fulbright,” Spalding said. “But there will always be an opportunity to teach here again.” 

She hasn’t gotten her assignment yet but knows she will spend the first three weeks in Bangkok, going through orientation and getting some language training. She does not (yet) speak Thai. She is most looking forward to learning from the other teachers she will work with. 

“I love to learn different teaching styles, tools and skills from the other teachers,” she said. “I have learned so much already but I think it will be really interesting to learn from a  completely different set of ed standards.”

They don’t know each other – yet – but Spalding will meet Simbulan in Bangkhok. She is also assigned to a still undetermined location in Thailand. She knows her way around already, having taught English as a  part of a Freeman Intern Fellowship in 2023.

“I loved it so much,” Simbulan said. “I had always planned on going to college and getting to travel abroad but I thought it would be humanitarian work,” she said. “This will give me a chance to brush up on my Thai. I’ve lost some of it but I’m hoping it will come back when I’m in a full immersion setting.” 

She’s also hoping to meet up with her good friend Meade, who will be taking her talents to Taichung Elementary School in Taiwan. Meade, a double major in linguistics and Chinese studies,  is fulfilling a long-held goal.

“I knew I wanted to do a Fulbright since sophomore year,” Meade said. “My mom is a teacher as well, so I’m following in her footsteps.” 

She, too, do a Freeman Intern Fellowship (in China) while an undergraduate. She studied French in high school but was determined to study a new language – “something that wasn’t Roman letters” – in college.

“It was down to Arabic or Chinese but I found out someone from my high school was also taking Chinese, so I went with that.” 

Horowitz, a government major, won a research Fulbright. He will travel to Sri Lanka to study transnational Buddhist nationalism – how Buddhists in one country communicate with those in neighboring countries such as Myanmar.

“I wrote my senior honors thesis on this and have a long-standing interest in Southeast Asian politics,” he said. “It’s not possible to go to Myanmar right now, but Sri Lanka has similar issues.”

The Myanmar military overthrew the democratically elected government in 2021 and seized power in a coup. The U.S. Department of State recommends Americans not travel to Myanmar due to ongoing civil unrest.

Horowitz will be based in Colombo, the Sri Lankan capital, and be affiliated with the International Center for Ethnic Studies, a think tank. 

He’s not entirely unfamiliar with the region, having grown up in Singapore before his family returned to the U. S. when he was 10.

“I’m hoping to get back to Singapore for a visit,” he said. “Actually, I want to travel as much as I can.” 

Current students and recent alumni interested in applying for a Fulbright Scholarship should contact the Advising Center.

Susan Corbett, Communications Specialist