La Salle University students Marc Vallone and Christopher Mayers (MBA 2014) have received Fulbright Scholarships and will spend a year overseas.
Vallone, who earned an MBA from La Salle in May, will travel to Brazil where he will teach college-level English and conduct research on how local organizations provide for at-risk youth. Mayers, who is currently a student in La Salle’s M.A. in Central and Eastern European Studies, will teach English in Pernik, Bulgaria, and teach English to high school students. He will graduate from La Salle in August and begin teaching in September.
Since the Fulbright program began, more than 60 La Salle students have received Fulbright Scholarships.
Vallone said, “I think when I come back I want to be engaged with at-risk students who are habitually fighting the uphill battle, who are thought of as lost causes.” He is Director of International Admissions at Camden Catholic High School and will leave for Brazil in February, 2015. “At the end of it all, I just want to help facilitate a non-profit organization helping those in need to succeed, whether as a consultant or manager.”
His success with the Fulbright application followed his rejection for one after he earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Scranton.
“Marc is passionate about his chosen profession, education,” said Karen Reardon, a teacher in the Management and Leadership Department at La Salle. “Education is the vehicle that drives social and economic mobility.’”
Reardon oversaw Vallone’s independent study project on volunteerism “He has grit. Initially, he fell short when he first pursued the coveted Fulbright Scholarship, but he did not take no for an answer. Rather, he simply worked harder, taking what he learned from the process to groom himself and his application so that he would be chosen next time,” said Reardon.
Christopher Mayers will be an English teaching assistant for ninth- and tenth-grade students. He said he wants to teach “aspects of American culture, explaining our holidays and traditions, providing language instruction and coordinating extra-curricular activities associated with English. Mayers will live in the city of Pernik, located outside Bulgaria’s capital of Sofia.