Two Sacramento State students have received the Fulbright Scholar Awards and will depart for Poland to teach English in mid-September.

Leanne Cameron, a graduate student majoring in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages, or TESOL, and Jennifer Norton, a graduate student in modern European history, were both awarded in April with long-term scholarships for positions as teacher assistants for the 2009-10 school year.

Cameron, of Davis, graduated from Sac State in 2005 with a bachelor’s degree in English.

Norton, who lives in Sutter Creek, graduated with a bachelor’s degree in history from the Australian National University in Canberra, Australia.

Both women come from two different walks of life and have never met, but now have three things in common: Sac State, Fulbright scholarships and Poland.

According to the Institution of International Education, IIE, 2009-10 competition statistics, 31 students applied for teaching assistantships in Poland, but only 10 received grants. Cameron and Norton were two of the 10 grant recipients.

“I expect a lot of great things from Jennifer,” said Katerina Lagos, professor of history. “Look out for her because one day she’s going to be someone important.”

Going overseas to teach is one thing, but getting a Fulbright and going overseas to teach is an honor, said Jack Godwin, chief international officer and director of the office of education.

Godwin is in charge of the committee that conducts the interviews for Fulbright at Sac State. The committee is composed of faculty who are experienced and knowledgeable about the Fulbright Program. He is also in charge of coaching the applicants and forwarding their materials to the Fulbright headquarters in New York.

Godwin said the Fulbright application process is highly competitive.

“Thirty-one American students from around the U.S. applied (to Poland) and 10 got grants, so 20 percent came from Sac State. Not Bad,” Godwin said. “We couldn’t be more proud of both Leanne and Jennifer.”

The Fulbright program is host to approximately 294,000 scholars, professionals and students around the world. 111,000 of the scholars being from America.

The program was established in 1946 by Sen. J. William Fulbright and is sponsored by the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.

Currently, the Council for International Exchange of Scholars, CIES, and IIE are government subcontractors that manage different levels of the scholarships.

According to the Fulbright Scholarship Program website, the goal of the program is to provide a better understanding between people in the U.S. and other countries.

Cameron will be teaching at Jan Kochanowski University in Kielce, Poland, and will be teaching American Literature along with English speaking and writing classes.

Cameron has been interested in traveling for years. She studied abroad in London in 2004 and upon her return worked at the Sac State Office of Global Education for a year, where she found out about many opportunities including the Fulbright Scholarship Program.

This past summer, she taught at music and language camps at high school campuses in Poland and Italy for four weeks.

“I loved going overseas,” Cameron said.

Norton has also done plenty of traveling of her own.

During the summer of 2006, Norton received a scholarship from the National Endowment for Humanities program, where she traveled to England for a month to learn about World War I.

Norton also received a scholarship to go to Oxford University during the summer of 2007.

The two women are both scheduled to be in Warsaw on Tuesday and will be meeting first time as well as rooming together during their two-week orientation.

Nallelie Vega can be reached at [email protected].