The Fulbright U.S. Student Program has selected seven Kenyon graduates to participate in the government’s flagship international exchange program for the 2026-27 academic year.
In addition, one faculty member — Associate Professor of Chemistry Katie Mauck — will spend the coming year conducting research in France as a U.S. Fulbright Scholar.
The news continues the College’s string of success in producing Fulbright fellows. More than 70 Kenyon students in the past decade have accepted the fellowships, and the institution was recognized earlier this year for the number of applicants it had selected for the 2025-26 student scholar program. Kenyon has received this “top producer” designation 19 times in the past 21 years.
The Fulbright U.S. Student Program, sponsored by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, provides funding for students and young professionals seeking graduate study, advanced research, and teaching opportunities worldwide. Recipients of the coveted fellowship receive grants to serve as English teaching assistants (ETAs) or conduct research abroad.
The Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program offers more than 380 awards in more than 120 countries for U.S. citizens to teach, conduct research, and carry out professional projects around the world.
The Fulbright U.S. Student Program is supported at Kenyon through the Office of National Fellowships & Scholarships. Here’s a closer look at this year’s Fulbright fellows from the College, who bring plenty of practical skills, diverse interests and leadership experience to their posts.
Lucas Aho ’26
Fulbright Focus: Teaching English in Saxony, Germany
Major: Double major in religious studies and German
Extracurriculars: Quiz Bowl (vice president), Sexual Respect Peer Alliance (events coordinator), German tutor, scene shop assistant, design for student theater productions
Hometown: Boston
In Their Own Words: “I can’t wait to begin! I’ve been studying German for almost 10 years now, and I am so excited to immerse myself in my new community. I know I have a lot to learn, and I hope I can make a positive impact on my students and share in return.”
Clara Beliavsky ’26
Fulbright Focus: Teaching English in Argentina
Major: International studies with a Spanish minor
Extracurriculars: Her Campus Media, Kenyon College Dance, Kenyon College Players, Community Advisor, study abroad in Madrid and Buenos Aires, Argentina
Hometown: New York City
In Their Own Words: “I’m excited to connect with the local community through both learning and teaching. As an English teacher, I hope to build on what I learned abroad about experiential, hands-on learning by creating opportunities for students to connect with the material in ways that extend beyond the classroom walls. Beyond my desire to return to Argentina, I was especially drawn to this Fulbright program because of its emphasis on community engagement through supplementary projects. Outside the classroom, I plan to enroll in classes at a local university and/or volunteer with civic education initiatives. Overall, I’m excited for the opportunity to deepen my Spanish-speaking skills while further engaging with the country, community, and people that already had such a meaningful impact on my understanding of educational exchange abroad!”
Victoria Mei-ling Kerrigan ’25
Fulbright Focus: Teaching English in Colombia
Major: Double major in Spanish and English
Extracurriculars: Multicultural Identities Organization (co-founder and president), Spanish language teaching assistant, Blu-ray and Serf Ultimate Frisbee teams
Hometown: Brooklyn, New York
In Their Own Words: “In the last couple years, thanks to my exposure to Colombian music and dance, I’ve developed a fascination and curiosity for Colombia that has only continued to grow. That’s why I feel so lucky and excited to have the opportunity to live and teach English there. I can’t wait to immerse myself in the culture — especially dance salsa caleña! — and, in turn, share my own multicultural Chinese-Spanish-American-New York identity. As this was my second time around applying to Fulbright I encourage anyone who didn't get it the first time to try again. Dale caña! — as we say in Spain.”
Nicholas Kloor ’26
Fulbright Focus: Teaching English in Indonesia
Major: Double major in music and Japanese
Extracurriculars: Fiber arts, Jazz Ensemble, pottery, various student bands, Critical Language Scholarship recipient
Hometown: Brooklyn, New York
In Their Own Words: “During my junior year abroad in Japan, I spent a month in a small rural town teaching English at various schools, where I discovered a love for teaching. I have also always been curious about Indonesia, as the fourth-most-populous country in the world; its presence in America is relatively understated. Additionally, many of my musical inspirations have studied and drawn from Indonesian music in their music, and I aspire to learn Gamelan.”
Emma Rice ’26
Fulbright Focus: Teaching English in Uruguay
Major: English with Spanish and art history minors and an Adolescence to Young Adult Integrated Language Arts teaching licensure certificate obtained through a Kenyon partnership with Capital University
Extracurriculars: ¡Hola! Tutoring (student liaison), the Kenyon Collegian (assistant editor and writer), Writing and Skills Center tutor, props and assistant stage manager in various student productions, and study abroad in Exeter, England
Hometown: Alexandria, Virginia, outside of Washington, D.C.
In Their Own Words: “I am a writer and a teacher. My greatest joys are writing, reading, and sharing a love for literature with my students. I cannot wait to reimagine English from the perspective of my students, translate poetry with my toes in the sand of Cabo Polonio, and learn new Spanish vocabulary in the midst of a tango class. I hope to give myself entirely to local Uruguayan communities in whatever ways they will have me.”
Iris Santalucia ’26
Fulbright Focus: Teaching English in Thailand
Major: Philosophy
Extracurriculars: Meditation club (co-president), actor in drama and film productions, Blow Up Film Club (treasurer)
Hometown: Queens, New York
In Their Own Words: “I hope to combine my interests in theater and meditation during this grant period by using drama and the arts as a tool for engaged language-learning and mindfulness techniques as a method for bringing calm and focus to the learning atmosphere. I am confident that I will find this year fruitful and rewarding, but challenging. I am so honored to be back in Thailand (where she previously studied abroad and worked), and hope to strengthen my own meditation practice, knowledge of Buddhism and Buddhist history, and immersion in Thai culture and language.”
Dylan Sibbitt ’26
Fulbright Focus: Conducting research in Indonesia, where he will examine how youth are navigating the rise of artificial intelligence, social media, and digital finance, and what those changes mean for education, economic opportunity, and civic life in the world’s third largest democracy.
Major: Political science with a Japanese minor
Extracurriculars: Student Council (senior class president), the Kenyon Collegian (opinions editor), men’s cross country and track
Hometown: San Francisco
In Their Own Words: “What excites me most about the Fulbright is the chance to study a set of questions that feel both urgent and deeply human. Around the world, young people are coming of age in a moment when technology is changing how they learn, work, socialize, and imagine their futures. Indonesia is an especially important place to study those changes because of its young population, democratic significance, and rapidly expanding digital economy. I pursued this project because I have become increasingly interested in how large political and technological shifts are experienced at the level of ordinary people’s lives. At Kenyon, my work often returned to questions about democracy, youth, technology, and inequality. The Fulbright gives me the chance to keep asking those questions in a new context, while also learning from Indonesian students, scholars, and communities directly.”
Katie Mauck, associate professor of chemistry
Fulbright Focus: Conducting research in France
Scholarly Interest: Physical chemistry and materials chemistry
In Her Own Words: “Since coming to Kenyon, I have focused on molecular materials with structural motifs that are commonly incorporated in organic electronics, using infrared reflectance-absorbance spectroscopy to identify signatures of intermolecular coupling and ground state charge transfer in ordered thin films. This work has often leaned on computational modeling to interpret our experimental data, from visualizing electron densities to assigning molecular vibrations and estimating orbital energies. The Fulbright fellowship will enable me to learn new computational methods at the Institut des Sciences Moléculaires in Bordeaux, as well as observe how quantum chemistry and computation are taught in France. I’ll use this to grow my research program at Kenyon to offer additional access points for students to engage in research in my lab, and bring back ideas for enhancing our own computational chemistry curriculum.
An additional student, Nora Archer ’26, was offered a Fulbright to teach English in Germany, but declined in order to accept a full scholarship to pursue a master’s degree in European studies at Georgetown University‘s School of Foreign Service.