Lee ’12 Awarded Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship to Korea

Jaeyeon Lee ’12, of Norwood, Mass., has been awarded a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship to Korea, where she will teach English at an elementary school in rural Korea. Lee also plans to learn more about the birthplace of her parents, and strengthen her Korean language skills.

An English major in the College Honors Program, Lee has always been passionate about teaching. Some of her proudest moments at Holy Cross have been as a tutor in the Writer's Workshop tutoring facility, and as a volunteer teacher's assistant in the English as a Second Language classroom at Elm Park Community School in Worcester through Holy Cross' Student Programs for Urban Development.

"I hope to use these skills to teach English in Korea and help my students experience the excitement one can feel from learning a valuable skill, such as speaking English," she wrote in her statement of grant purpose.

The Fulbright will be just as much of a learning experience for Lee as it will be for the students she plans to teach. "Although I am fluent in Korean, I hope to perfect my Korean speaking, reading and writing skills," she said.

In 2010, Lee interned at UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) in Korea where she learned about the country's many beautiful World Heritage sites. This time she plans on visiting them, something she wasn't able to do last time because of time constraints.

At Holy Cross, in addition to her involvement in the Writer's Workshop and SPUD, Lee studied abroad at Oxford University, was co-chair of Oxfam America, and was a member of the women's rugby team, Purple Key Society and Best Buddies. Thanks to her academic accomplishments, she was a member of the Alpha Sigma Nu Jesuit honor society, Phi Beta Kappa academic honor society, and Sigma Tau Delta English honors society.

Following the Fulbright, Lee plans to join Teach for America, to which she has already been accepted.

Each year approximately 1,000 college students are awarded grants through the Fulbright Program, the U.S. government’s flagship program in international educational exchange. Fulbright grants are made to U.S. citizens and nationals of other countries for a variety of educational activities, primarily university lecturing, advanced research, graduate study and teaching in elementary and secondary schools. Since the program’s inception in 1946, more than 300,000 participants — chosen for their leadership potential — have had the opportunity to observe each other’s political, economic and cultural institutions.

Read about this year’s other Holy Cross Fulbright grant recipients: Caroline Galiatsos ’12, Joseph Cavanaugh ’12, Mattea Cumoletti '12, Caroline Galiatsos '12, Daniel Geiger ’11, Eliza Gettel ’12, Heidi Grek ’12, Maria Jaroszewicz ’12, Courtney Lesoon '12, George Matthews ’12 and Peter Renehan ’12.