Other Fulbright Grants USA: Fulbright Distinguished Awards in Teaching Research Program

Michael Whalen

Mr. Michael Whalen is a teacher at Kearsley High School in Flint, Michigan, where he has taught for eight years. During his time with Kearsley Community Schools, he has served as the Student Council advisor and as the Social Studies Continuous Improvement chair, and has made presentations on professional-development topics such as technology use in the classroom and on the electronic lesson planning and resources offered by the Michigan Department of Education. Mr. Whalen served as an elected member of the Mt. Morris Board of Education for 11 years, was an administrative intern with the Kearsley High School leadership team, and was one of 24 teachers in Michigan selected to serve as a representative on Michigan’s Teacher Leadership Advisory Council.

Mr. Whalen received his master’s degree in educational policy and leadership from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, a bachelor’s degree in social studies education from the University of Michigan in Flint, and earned a minor in Finnish education and pedagogy while studying at the University of Helsinki in Finland.

For his Fulbright project, Mr. Whalen is exploring how India’s secular and non-secular schools are adapting to the social emotional impact of trauma caused by issues such as the COVID pandemic and poverty. In this area, he has been identifying strategies for inspiring self-awareness, self-reflection, and mindfulness in trauma-impacted youth which can then be shared with local and regional communities. Additionally, Mr. Whalen has been identifying various stakeholders that have successfully leveraged social emotional programming to positively impact student outcomes.

Tara Seekins

Ms. Tara Seekins teaches English at Tamalpais High School in Mill Valley, California. She has served as a school leader, an English instructor in the college program at San Quentin State Prison, and as a lecturer in the Graduate School of Education at UC Berkeley. Ms. Seekins has a National Board certificate in English language development and was part of the 2015 Fulbright-Hays delegation that traveled to China. Each of these experiences has reinforced her belief in the transformative power of education as well as intensified her passion for developing culturally relevant curricula, collaborating with colleagues across the globe, and encouraging students to become engaged citizens of the world.

Ms. Seekins holds a bachelor’s degree from Smith College, a master’s degree in English from the University of Colorado at Boulder, and both a master’s degree in education and a law degree from UC Berkeley.

Ms. Seekins’s Fulbright inquiry project is exploring gender representation in contemporary Indian literature and film and has a curriculum guide and instructional unit for secondary English teachers. The guide and instructional unit are focusing on women’s voices in contemporary Indian literature through university coursework and interviews with students and professors; collaborations with Indian educators to support cross-cultural dialogue; and site visits to locations of cultural and literary importance. This will form one of the cornerstones of a newly developed course on world literature that concentrates on diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice.

Sarah Reyes

Ms. Sarah Reyes has been teaching for 18 years and currently teaches at Abraham Depp Elementary in Dublin City School District, Ohio. She obtained her bachelor’s in music education and master’s in music education with Kodály certification from Capital University, Ohio, and spent a year studying music pedagogy at the Kodály Institute of Music in Kesckemét, Hungary. She was awarded a National Endowment for the Humanities grant to study the music of Johann Sebastian Bach at a summer institute in Germany. All through her career, Ms. Reyes has been teaching general music and choir for students in the age group of five to 18. She has also hosted numerous musical activities for students outside of school, including choirs, music clubs, and a Hindustani and Carnatic ensemble. She has served on committees on curriculum and equity, as well as on diversity and inclusion in her school district. Her teaching experience includes rural, urban, and suburban school settings.

Ms. Reyes has also served as a presenter for the Tri-City Kodály Educators, Organization of American Kodály Educators, the International Kodály Society, and for graduate students at Capital University on the topic of inclusion of diverse music and cultures in music classrooms and choral settings. She is continuously seeking to expand her knowledge and has studied Brazilian music with bricante Estêvão Marques, Cuban rumba with Josh Ryan, West African music with Sowah Mensah, and mridangam and Carnatic music with Mysore Vadiraj. She loves being inspired by her students to learn new things, travel to destinations unknown, and nurture her innate curiosity for learning by seeing the world through many different lenses.

As part of her Fulbright project studying Carnatic music in India, Ms. Reyes is collecting musical materials and pedagogical practices to share with her learning community and the music education community. She believes that her immersive experience in India will enable her to engage with her students in Dublin and the greater music education community across the U.S. and elsewhere – all along reflecting the contexts of her learning community, honoring multiple learning modalities, and embracing music as a universal human experience.

Maria Loyd

Ms. Maria Loyd teaches English at Vel Phillips Memorial High School in Madison, Wisconsin, where she has taught mostly juniors and seniors for six years. There, she has served as a teacher leader, leading teachers in both her department and school in anti-racist educational practices and policies. She has also worked on curriculum development and has piloted a course focused on experiential learning. Her work in educational equity and innovative teaching and learning has helped Ms. Loyd to see that the connection between these two fields is natural and necessary: innovative instructional approaches, such as experiential learning, are key to addressing disparities in education. This ignited Ms. Loyd’s keen interest in studying new approaches to teaching and learning that can have a positive impact on the most marginalized communities around the globe. She holds a bachelor’s degree in English and a master’s degree in social, historical, and philosophical foundations of education from Florida State University.

Ms. Loyd’s Fulbright inquiry project is exploring innovative teaching methods in India, focusing specifically on how these new approaches are undertaken and what effect they are having on changing educational outcomes. Her research is attempting to support the creation of a framework to aid teachers in implementing innovative educational approaches. This framework will include standards, model curricula, and an evaluation component – all vital entities that can have a direct impact on learning.