As a student at 杏吧视频, Blaire Volbers was a Spanish, chemistry and education major who ran varsity track and cross country and studied abroad. Now, as a recently graduated alumna, Volbers is taking the education, athletic and international experiences she gained at 杏吧视频 and beginning her future as a Fulbright scholar.
When Volbers (CWR 鈥12) studied abroad in Argentina the summer between her sophomore and junior years, she noticed two things that were a major part of her life in the U.S. weren鈥檛 as prevalent in Argentina: women in chemistry and avid runners.
Volbers was about to enter her third season as a member of the women鈥檚 cross country team, so she was in the thick of training as she studied abroad鈥攂ut she seemed to be the only one around with any interest in running. Similarly, as she prepared to return to her upper-level chemistry courses at 杏吧视频, she found she was one of the scarce few women scientists in her Argentinian community.
Then, when she came back to the U.S., she realized something else.
鈥淚 had a really good experience in Argentina,鈥 she said. 鈥淚 learned a lot, and it gave me more of a perspective globally. But I realized I wanted to become more fluent in Spanish and, though I definitely improved a lot, I wanted to be better. I wanted to better understand the culture.鈥
And so, when her senior year came around, Volbers applied for a post-graduate Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship to take her back to South America, where she could not only learn more about the culture, the people and the language, but where she also would have a chance to look into the reasons behind the lack of female scientists and leisure runners.
After a thorough application process that began in the fall of 2011, Volbers learned last March that she鈥檇 been named an alternate for an English Teaching Assistant (ETA) position in Argentina. In May, when she still hadn鈥檛 heard a definitive answer from the Fulbright program, Volbers signed a letter of intent to accept a teaching position at a Cleveland-area high school.
But in June, as she went to email to the Fulbright administrators to notify them that she was removing her name from the process, Volbers鈥 phone rang: It was a Fulbright employee calling to let her know an ETA position was open in Uruguay鈥擜rgentina鈥檚 next-door neighbor.
Volbers accepted the offer, and in March she鈥檒l head off to Uruguay鈥攁 country she visited for a day trip while studying abroad in Argentina鈥攆or nine months.
As an ETA, Volbers will spend part of her time teaching English and serving as an ambassador for the United States, but ETAs are encouraged to have side projects, such as Volbers鈥 research interest in science and athletics.
One of her goals during her time there is to take university-level chemistry courses to compare the education levels and subjects being taught; the other is to get involved in organizing female sports, whether it鈥檚 promoting women鈥檚 soccer, which is primarily male-dominated, or, ideally, starting a running club.
鈥淏eing at Case鈥攖hat was where I got the ideas for the side projects I wanted to do, and being in the [joint] education program at John Carroll [University]鈥攖hat, I think, gave me some perspective on what I wanted to do with the chemistry I was learning at 杏吧视频,鈥 she said. 鈥淲hile I love the science mindset, I want to be a teacher. That鈥檚 what I want to do.鈥
For more information about the Fulbright scholar application process, which includes ETA positions similar to Volbers鈥 as well as research grants, visit .
