Three outstanding Bonner students from Washington and Lee University - James Ricks ‘21, Lorena Terroba Urruchua ‘21, and Rosalie Bull ‘20 - earn Fulbright grants.
By Erica Turman, Washington & Lee University
Rosalie Bull ‘20
Washington and Lee University graduate Rosalie Bull ’20 has received a Fulbright grant to complete a creative writing project in Ecuador. The grant will fund developing a co-creative anthology of stories covering resistance and resilience networks, specifically, La Ruta de La Esperanza, or the Route of Hope, in the Ecuadorian Amazon. At W&L, Bull majored in English.
“This opportunity means I will be living the actual dream in the upcoming year,” Bull said. “I will have a year to think and write, my two favorite things, about the topic I am most passionate about, in the most powerful place on earth. I will learn about permaculture, indigenous agriculture and grassroots resilience from the people out there doing the work. And I will be able to support that work through my Fulbright, which means more than I can say.”
During her time at W&L, Bull visited Ecuador twice through the Johnson Opportunity Grant Program. It was through those visits that she first learned about La Ruta de la Esperanza.
“La Ruta de la Esperanza is a group of botanical parks that utilize permaculture and indigenous agriculture techniques in tandem to restore deforested or otherwise degraded land in the Amazonian region,” Bull said. With the support of the Fulbright grant, Bull will travel along the route and co-create a story with her host at each park.
Leah Naomi Green, visiting assistant professor of English at W&L, recommended Bull for the grant.
“Rosalie Bull is one of the most brilliant student I have encountered,” Green said. “It is clear that Rosalie could do nearly anything she would want to and that she could do it better, with more expansive intellect and energy, than nearly anyone else. It would come as no surprise if, within 10 years, Rosalie Bull is a big name in English literature, in either creative or critical writing.”
Matthew Loar, director of fellowships at W&L, also helped Bull prepare her application for the grant.
“Rosalie is a superstar young poet-environmentalist with truly original ideas and plans, and the W&L Fellowships Committee members were blown away by her Fulbright project,” Loar said. “It is clear that she is passionately committed to devoting her ample skills and energies to whatever it takes to save the Amazon rainforest.”
Since graduation, Bull has worked at Lexington’s Boxerwood Nature Center and Woodland Garden as the 2020-21 COREworks Environmental Fellow. She has helped Boxerwood develop a homegrown carbon-offset marketplace for Rockbridge County. After her Fulbright experience, she is contemplating earning her master’s degree.
Lorena Terroba Urruchua ‘21
Washington and Lee University senior Lorena Terroba Urruchua ’21 has received a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship (ETA) to Spain, specifically in the autonomous community of Galicia. At W&L, Terroba is double majoring in cognitive and behavioral science and romance languages, and she is minoring in poverty and human capability studies.
Terroba’s proposed Fulbright project is about engaging students in various volunteer work areas, particularly those involved with the community of people with disabilities.
“This experience will be a great culmination of my studies thus far as it brings together all the things I have loved learning about in college,” Terroba said. “I applied to be placed in a high school so I can lead a project I am very excited about with my students and be able to have fruitful conversations with them about how disabilities are approached and accepted in their culture and community. With these new community partners and organizations, we will make a unified community mural on what service and inclusion mean to those involved.”
Francile Elrod, associate director of community-based learning, recommended Terroba for a Fulbright.
“I am thrilled for Lorena and for the children she will teach in Spain,” Elrod said. “Her enthusiasm for learning is contagious. Lorena will be a gift and joy for any child to have as a teacher.”
Karla Murdock, professor of cognitive and behavioral science (CBSC), has mentored Terroba’s research training in the Technology and Health research lab, her CBSC community-based learning capstone project at Blue Ridge Autism and Achievement Center (BRAAC) and her internship at Special Olympics.
“As someone who easily grasps big-picture, programmatic perspectives as well as fine details of project logistics, Lorena’s superpower as a teacher will be packaging her curriculum in a way that makes students want to engage,” Murdock said. “She is a bridge builder who is able to put people at ease and motivate them to do their best work with the gifts they possess. She will be a stellar representative of W&L and ambassador for the United States in Spain.”
On campus, Terroba is heavily involved in the Bonner Program, a program dedicated to civic engagement and service that requires students to complete 1,800 hours of community service. Through the program, she has worked at the BRAAC and has been on the leadership team for Campus Kitchen since her first year.
She is also a member of Alpha Delta Pi, where she was the director of philanthropy; Omicron Delta Kappa; Phi Beta Kappa; and Catholic Campus Ministries, where she was the service chair.
“It is so exciting to see how my passions are finding meaning together in the intersections of disability studies, linguistics and general inclusion and dignified treatment of all persons,” Terroba said. “I am so grateful that through Fulbright, I will not only be able to teach English in the ways that helped set me up to where I am today, but also build relationships and engage in conversations that will keep opening doors for me to do the work that I hope to be doing for the rest of my life.”
The CBSC Department is home to two Fulbright recipients this year, Terroba and Amanda Dorsey ’21.
“One of the greatest pleasures of teaching at W&L is witnessing our students find their strengths and grow into young professionals who are fully prepared to do good in the world,” Murdock said. “Amanda and Lorena have crafted Fulbright projects that make exquisite use of their CBSC skills as well as the individual talents that make each of them so special. The CBSC faculty are very proud that they have found these avenues for serving the greater good.”
James Ricks ‘21
Washington and Lee University senior James Ricks ’21 has received a Fulbright creative grant to photograph patients and healthcare providers at a one-of-a-kind health clinic in rural Odanaku, Nepal. Ricks is majoring in English, with minors in poverty and human capabilities studies.
The clinic at which Ricks will work is managed by The Oda Foundation, a nonprofit organization co-founded in 2013 by John Christopher ’09, which provides biomedical healthcare similar to that which is practiced most commonly in the United States. The clinic sees thousands of patients per year.
This visit is not Ricks’ first mission to Nepal. He also worked with The Oda Foundation there in summer 2019.
“This project will explore patients’ experiences in these healthcare settings to understand how a community’s approaches to healthcare and perspectives toward health are impacted by a rapidly changing healthcare landscape,” Ricks said.
This award comes on the heels of Ricks earning a Davis Projects for Peace (PFP) grant.
“The PFP is about magnifying community members’ stories and interactions with the goal of fundraising for the community,” Ricks said. “The Fulbright is related in that it also concerns healthcare. Nonetheless, its focus is on exploring healthcare choices, points of care and the healthcare landscape of the region.”
Ricks is a Bonner scholar, an editor for the Vigil, a leadership team member with W&L’s Campus Kitchen and a tutor in the Writing Center on campus. He helped revive the dormant Habitat chapter on the W&L campus, which received an award at the university’s LEAD banquet, and served as the chapter’s co-president last year. He also co-founded and was the co-president of the Remote Area Medical chapter at W&L as well.
Ricks plans to pursue a degree in public health, attend medical school, become a general practitioner and continue contributing to the development of healthcare infrastructure in locations where access is sparse.
“It is an incredible honor to have been selected to return to Nepal and carry out this work,” Ricks said. “I have been supported by countless mentors and friends here on campus to whom I’m extremely grateful, and I am excited to apply what I have learned during my time here to this project and the ongoing effort of the Oda Foundation and organizations like it.”