Lipscomb senior Bethany Eldridge was announced last week as a Fulbright U.S. Student grant recipient, allowing her to study global development in The Netherlands.
The grant will send Eldridge, a soon-to-be graduate in law, justice and society, to the University of Maastricht in The Netherlands to obtain her master’s degree in European Studies on Society, Science and Technology. Eldridge said the first half of the one-year program is focused on background, study skills and techniques on how education and technology are used in global development, and the second half allows participants to do their own research.
“It kind of means to me that all of my dreams and goals are happening, and there was a reason I’ve had this desire to do something larger than myself,” Eldridge said of what the award means to her. “Now I have the platform to do it. It kind of makes my life make sense now that things match up.”
Eldridge said she hopes to use her Netherlands experience to learn how to better educate girls in developing nations.
“I want to learn the practical steps in how you help the underserved girls in the world with education,” Eldridge said, “and how people have overcome [barriers] and what needs to be done still.”
Paul Prill, director of the Honors College, serves as the faculty adviser for students interested in applying for the Fulbright program. He said the U.S. only awards 800 grants for undergraduate students, and he estimates that more than 15 thousand students apply each year.
“She’s in the top one tenth of one percent of students in the country in terms of her intellectual ability and preparation,” Prill said of Eldridge.
According to the website for the U.S. Department of State, which oversees the grants, the Fulbright program “is designed to increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries. The Fulbright Program provides participants – chosen for their academic merit and leadership potential – with the opportunity to study, teach and conduct research, exchange ideas and contribute to finding solutions to shared international concerns.”
Eldridge said the Fulbright program has been in the back of her mind since her freshman year when she first found out about it. The Fulbright application process takes nearly one year. Eldridge said she began really considering the program last summer, applied in October, was named as a finalist in January and then was announced as a grant recipient last week at the end of April.
Eldridge said she tried to think positively throughout the long process but didn’t realize how much she doubted it until she was announced as a finalist.
“Of course, you try to think optimistically,” she said. “I realized how much I never really thought I could get it when I found out I was a finalist. It was my first time to cry from being happy.”
“Since I’m not tied to any place right now, I wanted to do something that’s a once in a lifetime opportunity,” she said. “The Fulbright seemed to match with what I want to do, and Dr. Prill was willing to help me.”
Eldridge is the third Lipscomb student to receive the Fulbright grant in seven years, joining Emily Royse Green and Katie Jacoby on the list of winners.
Though grant recipients don’t fit into a single category, the State Department website says they all “share a strong academic background, leadership potential, a passion for increasing mutual understanding among nations and cultures and the adaptability and flexibility to pursue their proposed Fulbright project successfully.”
“Bethany came with a lot of potential,” Prill said, “very quiet when she got here, has really worked hard to move out in the community and become assertive in getting the things she wants to do, has maximized the opportunities she’s had here,” Prill said.
Kathryn-Claire Watts, a friend of Eldridge and a graduating senior in public relations, said she thinks Eldridge is very deserving.
“She’s one of the most hardworking individuals I have ever met,” Watts said. “She has lots of perseverance, and when she sets her mind to do something, she’ll do it to the best of her abilities.”
“It’s a really small amount of people in the nation that receive this award,” Watts said, “and it basically proves that you’re one of the top students in the country if you can get it. Being from a small Christian college is a big deal… it basically proves that we have lots of people of merit here.”
Prill said students winning awards like this show that even though it’s small, Lipscomb can stand among other well-known schools.
“It says that even though Lipscomb has only a very narrow regional reputation, that students who are willing to extend themselves over four years can compete at the highest level with students from Harvard or Stanford or Emory or Vanderbilt,” Prill said.
Eldridge said after she finishes the program in the Netherlands she hopes to continue working on these issues in an international non-profit setting.
“She has worked her tail off her entire college career as well as her high school career,” Watts said. “If anybody deserves it, she does because she has great goals and knows what she wants to do. She’s one of the best people I’ve ever known, and if anybody deserves it, I think she does.”
Click here to learn more about the Fulbright program.