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Seventy international Fulbright Scholars visited Naper Settlement

Seventy international Fulbright Foreign Students, representing 45 countries, recently visited Naper Settlement. The students were part of a three-day Fulbright Gateway Orientation program held at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb.

During their visit, the Fulbright Foreign Student grantees attended three days of presentations, workshops, break-out sessions, networking activities and uniquely Midwestern field trips, including a visit to Naper Settlement and Naperville's downtown Riverwalk, which will help them prepare for academic success at their respective institutions.

"We're very excited about this. The participants are a diverse group from all around the world," said Sim Chin Tissa, director of NIU's International Student & Faculty Office. "In addition to academic sessions, we were asked to include a cultural opportunity for these outstanding scholars to learn about the local history and culture. Naper Settlement came to mind because it fits the bill perfectly."

Administered by the Institute of International Education, Inc. (IIE), the Fulbright Gateway Orientation Program is a benefit made available to Fulbright Foreign Student grantees arriving in the U.S. The Gateway Orientation is intended to address two main components: 1) the participants' roles and responsibilities and 2) skill development for successful academic and professional lives in the U.S. The program is sponsored by the U.S. Department of State as part of the Fulbright Program, the U.S. government's flagship international exchange program, supported by the people of the United States and partner countries around the world.

Fulbright Foreign Student Ashley Campbell from New Zealand said she will be working on her PhD in biochemistry and will be spending five years in Missouri.

"I think it is a really good program to visit America and to meet people from other countries," she said. "America has amazing opportunities and it seemed like the perfect program for me."

Fulbright Foreign Student Md Muntasir from Bangladesh will be working on his degree in Urban Planning at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

"This was the first time the Fulbright Scholarship was offered for Urban Planning in my country and it is one of the best ways to get an advanced degree in the U.S.," he said.

While touring Naper Settlement's 12-acre museum campus, the Fulbright students visited the Blacksmith Shop, the Print Shop, the Paw Paw Post Office, the Log House, the Hobson Law Office, the one-room schoolhouse, the Halfway House, which is a 19th century farmhouse, and the Martin Mitchell Mansion, a Victorian mansion built in 1883, listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The Fulbright Program operates in over 160 countries worldwide. Approximately 8,000 grants are awarded annually. Since its inception in 1946, approximately 360,000 "Fulbrighters" have participated in the program. Fulbright alumni serve in leadership positions in government, academia, business, the arts, science, journalism and other professional fields and are the recipients of 53 Nobel Prizes, 88 Pulitzer Prizes, 29 MacArthur Foundation Awards and 16 U.S. Presidential Medals of Freedom. The Program was founded in 1946 under legislation introduced by U.S. Senator J. William Fulbright. For more information, visit eca.state.gov/Fulbright.

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