When entering college, most students like to have a plan. But sometimes college comes with opportunities that change what one wants to do in life.
For Kelly Zug, who graduated from Elon University in 2012, this was exactly the case.
Zug recently received a Fulbright program English Teaching Assistantship award to teach in Bulgaria for one year, starting this fall. She is one of 12 students in Elon’s history to receive a Fulbright award, which is sponsored by a program dedicated to forging connections between people of the United States and other countries.
Though Zug graduated with a degree in international studies — a major that goes hand-in-hand with her new overseas teaching opportunity — this wasn’t her original plan.
“I didn’t come to Elon specifically because of its study abroad programs and international studies major,” Zug said. “But looking back now, it was the most valuable part of my three-and-a-half years there.”
For the first two years of her college career, Zug was a math education major. But Zug’s perspective changed drastically after studying abroad in 2010.
“After my 2010 spring semester studying abroad in Florence, I realized that my own concern with having the ‘right’ answer to the question, ‘What do you want to do with your life when you graduate?’ prevented me from really evaluating what I wanted to contribute to the world and being comfortable with the uncertainty of the future,” she said.
When studying abroad, Zug said she found her passion actually leaned toward international relations.
With a new goal — and an enthusiastic attitude — Zug changed her major from math education to international studies.
[quote]I hope that all Elon students will strive to go abroad or aim high in their lives after graduation as well as in their campus goals. -- Kelly Zug, Elon alumna '12[/quote]
Through a plethora of schedule changes, time sacrifices and hard work, Zug was able to take full advantage of her major. During her last two years at Elon she studied abroad two more times. She went to Lithuania for an International Human Rights Conference and she went on Elon’s The Holocaust Journey, a Winter Term study abroad program that visited the Czech Republic, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Poland.
In the fall of 2011, she applied for the Fulbright award and did not receive it. After graduating from Elon, she obtained her Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) certificate and began teaching English at a school in Valencia, Spain.
During the next year, she rallied the support of her parents, past professors and professional connections to apply again. Together, they painstakingly reviewed her application repeatedly, making it a bit better each time.
Now she is able to pursue her dream in a country she has always wanted to visit — Bulgaria. Zug said she credits her interest in the country to an experience with a Bulgarian exchange student in high school. After that experience, she fell in love with the culture and she’s eager to return, she said.
Zug’s teaching assistantship will send her to Vratsa, Bulgaria, where she will be teaching students in eighth through 11th grade. While there, she said she hopes to not only positively affect the lives of the students, but she also plans on working with Habitat for Humanity to positively impact the community.
Zug said she is very happy about winning her award and encourages all Elon students to take advantage of the programs the university offers.
“I hope that all Elon students will strive to go abroad or aim high in their lives after graduation as well as in their campus goals,” she said. “It is truly a worthwhile opportunity that Elon makes so readily available at our fingertips. It takes us outside of our comfort zone, connects us with norms and cultures different from our own and prepares us for being world citizens. What better engaged learning opportunity could you ask for?”