Junior receives Fulbright fellowship to fund semester in Canada

Genna Symonds, ’25, is heading north of the border. Thanks to a prestigious fellowship, Genna will study in Canada, a country that she dreams of one day calling home.

Genna is among approximately 10 U.S. students receiving a Fulbright award through the Killam Fellowships Program to travel to Canada during the upcoming academic year.

“It’s really rewarding and amazing that they picked me,” said Genna, who is from Groveland and will attend the University of Ottawa for the fall semester. “I’m very excited.”

���鵺��̳ is one of the program's 16 founding partners among American universities. Administered by Fulbright Canada, Killam fellowships support American undergraduates studying in Canada and Canadian students attending college in the U.S. Several Bridgewater students previously received fellowships and ���鵺��̳ regularly hosts Canadian students.

“It’s a very prestigious award. It’s a highly selective process,” said Dr. Andrew Holman, a history professor who coordinates the Canadian Studies program. “It’s a real feather in our cap.”

Holman said Bridgewater’s Killam success speaks to the quality of ���鵺��̳ students – and Genna is no exception.

“She strikes me as a self-starter, someone who doesn’t need a lot of prodding,” said Holman, who also highlighted her self-confidence. “She’s going to make a great ambassador for Bridgewater State.”

Genna praised Holman’s guidance in reviewing a personal statement she wrote for the fellowship application process. Study Abroad Coordinator Emma Lynch and part-time Canadian Studies faculty member Eric Weeks also provided invaluable support, Genna said.

“Bridgewater as a school has amazing opportunities,” she said. “It’s clear that they care about their students and want to set them up to succeed.”

Although Genna has family living in Canada and previously visited the country, this will be a unique experience.

“When they hear Canada, people think it’s just like America. But there are a lot of differences,” said Genna, who will be studying at a French-English bilingual university. “I’m excited to learn more French.”

At the University of Ottawa, she will take classes in criminal justice and political science (her ���鵺��̳ major and minor, respectively), as well as film.

She also plans to join clubs, just as she has done at Bridgewater. Genna served as an orientation leader and is a member of ���鵺��̳ Dance Company. She works for the EXCEL Program and is part of Best Buddies, two organizations that support people with intellectual disabilities and have shaped her career interests.

Genna is eager to explore Ottawa’s cultural attractions and historic government buildings and travel within Canada. The fellowship offers a mobility grant in addition to the main $6,000 award, which Genna said makes studying abroad possible without adding an extra financial burden on her family.

“It’s a really big honor and exciting that I get to represent Bridgewater in another country,” she said.

Do you have a ���鵺��̳ story you'd like to share? Email stories@bridgew.edu.

Bridgewater as a school has amazing opportunities. It’s clear that they care about their students and want to set them up to succeed.

As an undergraduate, Riley Lathrop, ’20, studied how dance and movement aid in the teaching of English to non-native speakers. Now her innovative research has landed her a spot in a prestigious international academic exchange program.

The ���鵺��̳ graduate will spend the 2022-2023 academic year in Taiwan through the Fulbright Program’s English Teaching Assistant initiative.

“I wouldn’t have wanted to apply for this without the dance major (at ���鵺��̳),” said Lathrop, who is from Northampton and minored in management. “My professors really helped me in guiding me in this very niche research I was doing.”

She is the sixth ���鵺��̳ student or alumnus since 2017 to receive one of the U.S. State Department’s highly competitive Fulbright Awards for research or teaching. While they come from different disciplines, these Fulbright recipients all took advantage of ���鵺��̳’s undergraduate research.

“The ethos on campus is one of really high-quality research and scholarship, including by undergraduate students doing work much closer to that of graduate students,” said Dr. Jenny Shanahan, assistant provost for high-impact practices. “That’s only possible with excellent faculty mentorship.”

What made Lathrop such a strong candidate was, in part, her aptitude for research as an undergraduate, which led her to spending five weeks in Indonesia volunteering to teach English to second graders.

“She had that distinctive idea that we are beings who learn by moving,” Shanahan said. “By incorporating dance and movement pedagogy into language learning, she’s creating a more accessible way to learn the language.”

Lathrop praised the extensive support she received from Shanahan and Student Scholars Coordinator Sean Maguire in guiding her through the application process. Dance faculty Donna Dragon, Jody Weber and Kristy Kuhn Donnelly wrote letters of recommendation.

“I’m very grateful, but I’m not surprised because Bridgewater is so supportive of students,” she said. “I’ll always have a connection with Bridgewater.”

In Taiwan, Lathrop will assist an English teacher, though she doesn’t know yet what grade level. No matter the age range, incorporating creative movement improves students’ emotional well-being, she said.

“I definitely want to integrate movement because learning English as a foreign language can be very emotionally draining and come with a lot of pressures,” she said.

She might use rhythm to teach youngsters syllables or dance moves to help middle schoolers understand a poem.

Fulbright recipients act as cultural ambassadors for the U.S. Lathrop looks forward to learning the Mandarin language and Taiwanese dances and maybe even teaching dance while abroad.

“It’s definitely a challenge and different, but I feel like this is the perfect time,” she said. “I’m ready for all this newness and all of the unknown.”

Do you have a ���鵺��̳ story you'd like to share? Email stories@bridgew.edu.

I wouldn’t have wanted to apply for this without the dance major. My professors really helped me in guiding me in this very niche research I was doing.