Bethel English major Charity Kroeker has been awarded a prestigious Fulbright grant. The English Teaching Assistantship will enable Kroeker to teach and advise students in English as a second language at the University of Gdańsk in Poland. The Fulbright Program is the U.S. government’s flagship program in international educational exchange.

“Charity’s experience in Europe will be as a representative of the United States, of Bethel, and of our Christian faith tradition,” explains Dean of Faculty Growth and Assessment Rich Sherry. “The Fulbright Program shows the world the best of American scholars and students, people who are genuinely compassionate and thoughtful, and who seek to understand and appreciate other cultures.”

Kroeker, a senior from Wayne, Neb., has traveled extensively on missions trips and through Bethel’s study abroad program. She spent a semester in Lithuania and has been to Sweden, Russia, Latvia, Estonia, Japan, and China. “It was always my plan to go abroad, and I really wanted to get back to Eastern Europe,” says Kroeker. “I’m excited about getting to know students and working with them.”

Those who have taught and worked with Kroeker, who will graduate in May, say she is an extraordinary person. Dan Ritchie, professor of English and director of the Humanities Program, says, “Charity combines meticulous attention to detail, intuitive insight into human relationships, powerful analytical skills, and imaginative creativity.”

Ritchie hired Kroeker, who has also served as his teaching assistant for more than two years, as a summer research assistant during his work on a scholarly book project. “I had complete confidence in her ability to comment on my own written, scholarly work,” says Ritchie. She also assisted him with a national institute of 25 scholars, led by Ritchie and held at Bethel in summer 2007, to discuss Alexis de Tocqueville’s defining book, Democracy in America.

In addition to her work with Ritchie, Kroeker has also been active on the Bethel Forensics Team. She says that head coach Michael Dreher and former assistant coach Tracy Paschke-Johannes, as well as the forensics team as a whole, had much to do with helping her earn the Fulbright. “Public speaking can be a frightening activity, and these coaches were always pushing me to bypass my own hesitations and try out more challenging types of speeches, as well as more challenging life experiences,” says Kroeker.

“Having these opportunities and experiences on my resume went a long way,” she says of all of her experiences at Bethel.

Kroeker has a passion for writing poetry, which she hopes to develop further while in Poland. She says she is likely to enter graduate school upon her return.

“More than 700 students will be in Europe this year from the Fulbright Program—but there were about four times as many applicants as positions available,” says Sherry. “Charity’s selection is an honor for her and for us.”