Jim Durham
News Bureau Director
Roger Brock of Louisville was named an Outstanding Student Leader; Megan Bagwell was involved in SGA all 4 years.
May graduates Roger Brock of Louisville and Megan Bagwell of Lawrenceburg are the latest in a proud succession of Georgetown College students to be named Fulbright Fellows – the 10th and 11th in the past five years, thus bringing the total to 23 since 1990. Both will spend their Fulbright year as English teaching assistants in very different cultures – he in Spain, she in Mongolia.
Roger only started thinking about the Fulbright U.S. Student Program the summer before his senior year when he received an email that he’d been recommended. Spain “fit his goals and gifts best” because there he’d be able to teach one of his majors, Math. His other major is Spanish, a language he’s been able to use on three separate short-term mission trips to Bolivia starting before the eighth grade.
Megan first dreamed of being a Fulbright her sophomore year when Sigma Kappa sister Jill Thompson was awarded a Fulbright to Germany. Megan applied for Korea, a popular destination, but accepted – with excitement and trepidation – an assignment to notoriously cold and mountainous Mongolia – thus being among the first Fellows to each in that developing Asian country. A double major of Biology and Psychology made her a great selection for teaching at the Health Sciences University there.
Dr. Rosemary Allen, Provost at Georgetown College and campus advisor for the Fulbright Program, was especially excited that Megan Bagwell would be “a pioneer” for the Fulbright English Teaching Assistant program. And, she was very proud of what these two scholars are bringing to the Fulbright table.
“Both Roger and Megan demonstrate the breadth of a liberal arts education, since both of them have double majors from very different disciplines. Because they have these disparate majors, they show that they have flexible and adaptable minds. I believe the Fulbright selection committees were impressed by that quality.”
According to Dr. Allen, there were 685 positions available worldwide and over 3000 applicants for the Fulbright English Teaching Assistant program this year. “Our graduates have had a strong record of success in these Fulbright placements, and I think we have a reputation for providing mature and responsible applicants,” she said. “In three out of the past four years, for instance, a Georgetown College graduate has been selected for the Spain program.”
Allen added: “Both of these students are particularly notable for their demonstrated spirit of service. More than anything else, their caring and compassionate attitudes will make them extraordinary representatives of Georgetown College and of their nation as they work to increase international understanding during their time abroad.”
Roger, who was tagged as “Class Clown” for GC’s 2010 Senior Superlatives, certainly has a serious side. He was one of two to receive the Outstanding Student Leader Award this spring and he was chosen Resident Life Male Staffer of the Year the past two years. He’s also a member of the President’s House Association.
Here are just a few of the comments Dr. Adela Borrallo-Solis, Associate Professor of Spanish, wrote about Roger Brock:
“What makes him special is his originality and warmth coupled with his great leadership skills and his outstanding command of Spanish. I am sure the students in his classes will learn and enjoy tremendously from anything he has to say, for his sense of humor is terrific. When I think of Roger, I see a ‘master of the unpredictable’ for not only does he excel in ambiguous and unstructured situations, but he craves them. In class, the grin on his face was the only affirmation I needed that he was excited about the improvised activity that I just sprung on the class.”
“Roger consistently shows a very respectful yet engaging demeanor, especially when the individuals he interacts with are from different countries. This ability to create bridges with others is exactly what a fine representative of the United States should embody.”
Megan Bagwell managed to make the Dean’s List while also staying very involved in campus life. A member of Sigma Kappa, she was part of the Student Government Association all four years and a Senior Start Program officer.
Here’s what Dr. Tim Griffith, Assistant Professor of Biology, wrote about Megan:
“I think one of the greatest challenges for Fulbright Fellows (or anyone working and studying in another culture or country) is to maintain your character while trying to readjust everything from your daily routine to your views of the world. Two summers ago, Megan took a tropical biology course that I taught in Belize. On the first day of the course, students land in a foreign country, travel to a remote village and camp in the rainforest, and must quickly learn everything from which plants and animals to avoid to how to survive without modern plumbing. Megan not only adjusted quickly, but thrived. In particular she was fascinated by the local Mayan culture, got along well with everyone, and excelled in the course.”
“As her advisor, I have also been consistently impressed with her independence. Many students feel most comfortable pursuing standard careers paths in health sciences, such as going to pharmacy or dental school. However, Megan opted for a much less conventional path. She will be attending graduate school in Washington D.C and working with hearing-impaired students. I know that her independence and ability to thrive in new situations will make her an excellent Fulbright scholar!”
Megan, who did at one point want to be a clinical psychologist, said she’s already looking beyond her Fulbright year. “I even proposed at first that I work with the deaf in Mongolia,” she said.
When Roger’s Fulbright year ends, he would like to stay in Europe and get a job with a cruise line, sailing around the Mediterranean. “I feel like this would be a great outlet to see more of the world,” he said. In the distant future, he envisions returning as missionary in Bolivia – where his mother first “made him” go on a mission, where he returned with his father, then finally lived with a Bolivian pastor.
While they await their Fulbright adventures, Roger Brock is working this summer as a regional manager for Confrontation Point Ministries in Wilmore, and Megan Bagwell is working as a waitress at the new, upscale restaurant in Georgetown, Circa 1840.
