The 2025 Fulbright student award recipients have all been announced, and we’re pleased to report that BYU has six recipients this year—our highest number ever.
This year’s recipients are as follows:
- Christian Barker, Australia, Study/Research
- Berlin Barnett, Kyrgyzstan, English Teaching Assistant
- Andrew Bonney, Turkey, Study/Research
- Blake Bullock, Germany, English Teaching Assistant
- Peter Demars, Portugal, Study/Research
- Daniel Raleigh, Kenya, English Teaching Assistant
The Fulbright U.S. Student Program is a prestigious award, sponsored by the U.S. Department of State, that sends student recipients on cultural exchanges to other countries in order to expand perspectives, create connections, and improve cross-cultural dialogue. Recipients spend a year living abroad doing research, pursuing graduate studies, or teaching English; they must have already graduated from college, so most people apply during their final year of studies or within a year or two after graduating.
BYU has had successful applicants for many years, but this is the most recipients the university has ever had in a given year. James Mayo, scholarships coordinator at the Kennedy Center for International Studies, says the increase in recipients correlates with an increase in the number of applicants. “More students are applying because of efforts by the Kennedy Center and the National Scholarships and Prestigious Fellowships office to get the word out to students and let them know about available opportunities for students upon graduating,” he says.
Making a Difference
The interest in the Fulbright program at BYU is not surprising, Mayo says, because it’s such a great fit for students here: “BYU students are especially committed to making a difference in the world beyond our borders,” he says. “Fulbright is a perfect opportunity for students after graduation to continue to engage and create lifetime connections with people throughout the world.”
Recipient Berlin Barnett, who’ll be teaching English in Kyrgyzstan in the fall, says, “I decided to apply because I felt like it combined all of my goals for my gap year before attending medical school; I wanted to serve others and get involved in a community, as well as learn another language or further develop my previous language skills, and the Fulbright gives me this opportunity all while living in Kyrgyzstan!”
She says she’s looking forward to having a unique opportunity to immerse herself deeply in the culture and get to know local people: “When I've traveled before,” she says, “there hasn't been time to absorb all the cultural norms or even learn the language, so I'm really excited to have the opportunity to do that.” There’s one aspect of Kyrgyzstan culture that she’s particularly looking forward to. “They have a very rich tradition of horseback riding and I am hoping to engage in that while there,” says Barnett, who competed in dressage through much of her childhood and adolescence. “My community project is focused on teaching horseback riding lessons to adolescents. I’m looking forward to riding lots of horses while I'm there!”
Dan Raleigh, who’ll be teaching English in Kenya, says, “I am most looking forward to interacting within the community where I’ll live. I’m eager to form friendships while getting to know the attitudes and beliefs of the population. For me, this is the foundation for bridge-building and fostering diplomacy on any scale.”
For Raleigh, who studied political science and international development at BYU, those connections he hopes to build are the real draw of the program. “One day, I hope to find myself in a professional role where I can discover and share the connections that link people across traditions, communities, and nations,” he says. “This Fulbright Fellowship is the right step as I pursue these goals.”
Barnett, who intends to attend medical school, agrees that the program will play a vital role in her professional goals. “Based on my brother and father's experiences serving in the military, I've often considered being a field surgeon or helping to give medical care to people in war-stricken countries,” she says. “The Fulbright will give me more skills not only in the Russian language, but also with cultural and global awareness, which I hope will help me to be a more compassionate and knowledgeable physician.”
College students sometimes see programs like Fulbright as a useless detour, says Mayo—something that will simply delay them on their way to their academic and professional goals. “But students that spend time participating in Fulbright realize that not only are they gaining meaningful experiences—experiences they can add to their grad school and job applications to set themselves apart from other candidates—they are also interacting with and learning from God's children throughout the world that will have a lifelong impact on who they are and the differences they will make in this world.”
How to Apply
For students who aren’t graduating yet but may be interested in applying for Fulbright awards in the future, Mayo offers the following tips:
- Start interacting with the world around you now. Get to know what places you're interested in through reading, watching films and documentaries, learning a language, participating in cultural clubs on campus, volunteering with immigrant and refugee organizations in Utah, and studying and interning abroad.
- If you're interested in teaching English, volunteer to do so now in Provo.
- If you're interested in research, work with professors and students now to see what connections BYU has in other countries.
- If you're interested in graduate school, excel in your class work and figure out what graduate programs around the world have to offer that is unique and different from graduate school in the US.
Barnett advises interested students to “talk to as many previous or current Fulbrighters as you can. You can learn so much simply by talking to other people who are in the country you're hoping to go to, or even to past BYU students to learn what their experiences were like.”
Once it’s time to start thinking about applications, students should reach out to scholarship advisors, like Mayo and the National Scholarships and Prestigious Fellowships office. The Kennedy Center scholarships office recommends, “Interested students should typically contact James Mayo, the Kennedy Center scholarship coordinator, during their Junior year, if interested in going abroad right after graduation.”
Raleigh and Barnett both recommend taking time to really think about your application. Raleigh says, “While filling out applications can feel routine and predictable, take some time to reflect deeply on your personal qualities. Understanding myself and what I offer made it easier to convey my qualities in my application.”
Barnett adds, “The application requires some soul-searching to find your ‘why,’ and this was something I spent a lot of time on. I really had to consider why teaching English was going to help me in my future career, and why I picked the country I did. Putting in this effort helped me to feel peace about my choice and confidence that I could accomplish what I was planning to do for my community project in Kyrgyzstan.”
Want to learn more about Fulbright awards? Click here.