Sturges Hall (SUNY Geneseo photo/Keith Walters '11)
Four Geneseo alums have won highly competitive 2025–26 awards in a national competition. The awards fund positions in other countries as English Teaching Assistants (ETAs) in schools or post-secondary institutions.
The winners for this year’s cycle include Jocelyn Bunster ’25 (Czech Republic), Anna Lynch ’23 (South Korea), Kaleigh Silverstein ’25 (Uruguay), and Elinore Voss ’24 (Spain). This year’s results bring the college’s historic total to 58 awards offered to Geneseo students and alums, with 46 coming in the past decade alone.
A resident of Massapequa Park, NY, Jocelyn Bunster majored in mathematics with adolescence education as a member of the Edgar Fellows Honors Program. After her Fulbright year, she will complete her New York State teacher certification and then earn a master’s degree in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL), allowing her to better meet her diverse students’ needs. Her desire to become an ETA stems from a study abroad experience, where she volunteered to teach high school English in Italy and found an interest in language learning.
Bunster looks forward to immersing herself in the rich Czech culture and its long history in mathematics. “At Geneseo, I completed a capstone project focused on topology, a field with major contributions made by Eduard Čech, a famous Czech mathematician,” she says. “Exploring a country where groundbreaking advancements have been made in mathematics was a significant motivator for my application, as well as strengthening my ability to teach what many consider the world’s most challenging language, math.”
Anna Lynch, a Korean American adoptee from Liverpool, NY, majored in communication with minors in English and the Edgar Fellows Honors Program. She will spend a year in a South Korean community exploring her heritage, improving Korean language skills, and learning key cultural traditions. “I studied abroad in Seoul at Sogang University, learned basic Korean language skills, and experienced the country firsthand,” she says. “However, one of my life goals is to become proficient in the Korean language and create lasting Korean traditions in my family, which I believe can only be accomplished through deep and prolonged immersion.”
Upon returning to the US, Lynch will pursue a master’s degree in social work with the goal of working both internationally and locally with immigrant, refugee, and BIPOC communities. Eventually, she hopes to earn a PhD in social welfare, enabling her to research and develop culturally informed practices to support youth and families from diverse and multicultural backgrounds.
Kaleigh Silverstein, from Ardsley, NY, graduated with a Spanish major and a linguistics minor. She gained experience teaching English to migrant families in Geneseo’s TOGETHER program, which “equipped me to inspire learners to view English as a gateway to global opportunities. Serving in Uruguay will allow me to reach diverse Spanish speakers and refine my teaching strategies for a future career in English as a New Language (ENL).”
Silverstein’s interest in Uruguay grew from her research into the country’s progressive initiatives on social issues and secularism, especially how it has maintained its unique identity while bordering more conservative neighbors. “The country’s progressive dynamic sparked my curiosity about Uruguay’s distinct local dialects, educational reforms, and rich influences from European, African, and indigenous cultures,” she says. “This unique mixture fosters an inclusive, close-knit culture filled with national pride that I am eager to experience through immersion.”
Elinore Voss, from Barker, NY, first became interested in Spanish culture during high school when she hosted a Spanish exchange student. That connection inspired Voss to double major in international relations and Spanish and minor in women’s and gender studies while at Geneseo. Her appreciation for the Spanish language and culture grew during a semester abroad in Salamanca, where she explored Spain’s diverse regional heritage and tutored language center students. The cross-cultural connections she developed with her host family, students, and friends sparked a desire to return as an ETA.
For Voss, “teaching English to migrant families through Geneseo’s TOGETHER program and supporting refugees with the International Rescue Committee motivated me to pursue a legal career to advocate for vulnerable populations by breaking down the systemic and linguistic barriers that they face.”
Fulbrights at Geneseo
In seven of the past eight years, Geneseo has been named a Fulbright Top Producing Institution by the State Department’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs in its annual article in The Chronicle of Higher Education. Geneseo was the first dedicated SUNY institution to be named a Top Producer of US Student awards in any category—bachelor’s, master’s, research, or special-focus four-year institutions.
Seniors and alums who apply for an award through Geneseo undergo a collaborative and supportive internal application process. A committee composed of faculty and staff, some of whom are former Fulbright recipients, reviews applications and interviews applicants, ultimately making recommendations to the Fulbright Commission. This year’s committee members include associate professor of Spanish Lori Bernard, associate professor of biology Mackenzie Gerringer, associate professor of German Cynthia Klima, and study abroad associate director Emily McCrossen.
The Fulbright US Student competition is open to students and alums. It is administered at Geneseo by Director of National Fellowships and Scholarships Michael Mills, who can be reached at millsm@geneseo.edu. For more information about the Fulbright and other nationally and internationally competitive scholarship and fellowship programs, visit Fellowships and Scholarships.
—Michael Mills