Love of teaching, culture leads Fulbright student to Germany

Lelaina Beauregard, a senior, from Altamont, NY, has received a prestigious Fulbright English Teaching Assistant (ETA) grant to Germany where she will spend 10 months living and teaching. It will not be her first time traveling abroad.

“I spent my junior year of high school in Hamburg, Germany, during the Covid-19 pandemic,” she said. “While navigating an entirely new country with minimal knowledge of the language and in the midst of a global pandemic, I soon discovered the importance of being open to making mistakes.”

This mindset will help Beauregard support her students as they learn a new language.

“I hope that this experience can help me to better understand the struggles of English language learners, and people who are different than I am,” she said. “When I eventually come back to the U.S., this will also help me teach my students whose first language is not English.”

In addition to completing a Bachelor of Science in education, Beauregard’s numerous teaching and tutoring roles will help her transition to her new role in Germany.

“The countless classes and amazing professors at CMU have helped me get to where I am today and effectively prepared me to teach students abroad,” she said. “My experiences working at the Mathematics Assistance Center, the STEM Education Scholars and as a Peer Mentor for the Education and Human Services Residential College have provided opportunities to apply what I learned in classrooms to my teaching in various settings.”

In addition to teaching, Beauregard is looking forward to fulfilling the Fulbright mission of building mutual understanding between peoples of the U.S. and other countries.

“I am most looking forward to meeting my host community,” she said. “Wherever I am placed in Germany, I plan to either join a community choir or a church choir, not only because I love to sing, but because it will be a great opportunity to connect with others. I also plan to offer after school English conversation and cultural exchange hours to my students and people in my host community”

Fulbright U.S. Student Grants provide funding for graduate study, conducting research, or teaching English abroad in more than 140 countries worldwide. Fulbright recipients are selected based on their academic and professional record, host country-specific preferences, and cultural competency. Beauregard received support from the CMU National Scholarship Program throughout the application process. 

Beauregard is grateful for the support that she received in pursuing opportunities to teach abroad.

“I would like to thank my German Professor, Frau Richter, for helping me get to this point in my career,” she said. “She has stood by me these last four years with unwavering kindness and support. I would also like to thank my family for supporting me in my dream of going to Germany from as early as the tenth grade. They have always supported me in venturing out into the world and following my dreams.”