Student Fulbright scholars extend the university's global reach

When Hokies earn prestigious Fulbright grants, they travel around the world teaching, researching, serving, and building relationships in communities — exactly as Virginia Tech has prepared them to do.

From classrooms in South Korea to labs in the Czech Republic to business settings in Mexico, Fulbright recipients are putting their education to work across cultures and disciplines. Their experiences reflect Virginia Tech’s growing culture of global engagement and the ways Hokies carry the university’s land-grant mission far beyond Blacksburg.

For months, Jesse Garrett-Larsen, Prenya Harikrishnan, and Sarah Han ’25 have been living and working abroad as Fulbright scholars. Now, Sydney Eismeier and Mahima Suresh are preparing to follow in their footsteps.

Over the past decade, Virginia Tech students have earned 31 Fulbright U.S. Student Program grants, pursuing opportunities that range from English teaching to research to international business.

From one teacher to the next

With a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant grant, Han, an alumna of the Pamplin College of Business, has been teaching elementary students in Gumi, South Korea, an industrial city along the Nakdong River.

For Han, the grant built on work she began in high school and carried through college. Through the Coalition for Refugee Resettlement and the Blacksburg Refugee Partnership, she had offered English-language learning support to students for years. 

“English teaching abroad with Fulbright happened to align with everything I wanted and seemed like — and became — the perfect opportunity for me,” Han said.

The people she has met along the journey have had the biggest impact on her Fulbright experience, from her Fulbright cohort colleagues to the students she teaches.

“I think the interactions with my students will stick with me the most,” she said. “Seeing them put in the effort to interact with me in a language foreign to them makes me overjoyed. The feeling I get from knowing I helped my students will be my reminder why I should continue to teach even after this program.”

After Han returns to the U.S., Eismeier, a graduate student in the School of Public and International Affairs, will begin her own Fulbright journey, also teaching English in South Korea. 

Like Han, Eismeier found the Fulbright opportunity to align well with her public service background and career aspirations. 

“Serving as a graduate teaching assistant at Virginia Tech’s Steger Center for International Scholarship in Switzerland last year gave me my first meaningful experience in an international teaching environment and strengthened my interest in education,” Eismeier said. “Teaching English in South Korea through Fulbright, I expect, will deepen my understanding of educational systems and equity, which I hope to carry into a future career in education policy and public service.” 

From research to global business

Garrett-Larsen, a graduate student in the Department of Biological Sciences, has had a different kind of Fulbright experience in the Czech Republic. With a Fulbright Academic Research Award, he has been researching the effect of changing environmental temperatures on wildlife immune responses at Charles University in Prague. 

His advice for the next cohort: Get involved in the local community and learn from the people around you.

In his free time, Garrett-Larsen joined a local choir, played pickup soccer, and explored Prague. Getting involved outside the lab, he said, has given him opportunities to meet and learn from a variety of people.

His research experience also expanded his understanding of science as a global enterprise.

“I have collaborated with so many new researchers,” Garrett-Larsen said. “Living here has helped me understand how science in the United States is seen from abroad and how to better integrate into the wider international community of researchers.”

Suresh’s Fulbright Award experience will take her in yet another direction. 

A student pursuing undergraduate degrees in Spanish and national security and foreign affairs, Suresh was awarded a Fulbright-García Robles Binational Business Scholarship in Mexico. The program focuses on international business relations and includes an embedded internship.

Fulbright’s lasting impact

Whether conducting research, immersing themselves in local communities, or building meaningful connections, Fulbright recipients say the experience is shaping their careers and perspectives. 

“I'm very interested in pursuing a career in international trade in the Western Hemisphere. Given that my Fulbright is specifically geared towards business in Mexico, it will provide me with the language training and technical skills I need to better understand trade and business concerns,” Suresh said.

For Han, “Being in Fulbright has only solidified my career trajectory – to do work serving underserved communities – and it deepened my desire to help people one step at a time any way I can.” 

That impact extends beyond these four students. 

Christina McIntyre, the director of professional development and national and international scholarships in the Honors College, has been helping Hokies pursue Fulbright opportunities since 2016. She sees Virginia Tech’s history of Fulbright participation as part of the university’s broader commitment to preparing students for global engagement.

“Each year, I see students from a wide range of disciplines pursue opportunities to teach, research, and build connections abroad through the Fulbright U.S. Student Program,” McIntyre said. “Virginia Tech’s strong history of Fulbright participation reflects the university’s commitment to preparing students for global engagement, as they carry their academic interests into communities around the world.”

Suresh said that same culture of support made a difference in her own Fulbright application.

“I wouldn’t have been as successful in achieving my scholarship if not for the people I reached out to,” she said. “Hokie and Fulbright alums were quick to help me through the application process because they were excited to see me become a part of the Fulbright community. Lean on the resources you have through Virginia Tech and go for it.”

To learn more about the program and connect with support resources, contact the Global Education Office at vtabroad@vt.edu.