Hum Scholar Morgan Zepp to Lithuania as a Fulbright scholar

Morgan Zepp, a 2018 alum is one of 8,000 students nationwide selected to be a Fulbright Scholar — and one of eight from UMBC.

The Fulbright U.S. Student Program, under the U.S. Department of Education, provides opportunities for research, study and teaching abroad for recent college graduates or graduate students. Most funding for the program comes from a congressional appropriation.

“They were asking for someone who has a lot of background in service,” Zepp said. “They were looking for someone who maybe studied English, had a background in teaching, but was also willing to be flexible and be a jack-of-all-trades kind of thing.”

Those are the kinds of experiences Zepp sought out and participated in as she went through UMBC. She majored in English and global studies, with minors in Spanish and writing. She graduated magna cum laude in May 2018.

Zepp said she chose to apply for an English teaching assistant position in Lithuania because she thought she fit the program’s criteria perfectly.

From her time working at UMBC’s writing center, Zepp said she has some experience with English for speakers of other languages (ESOL) instruction. The Fulbright program is providing her a stipend and covers room and board expenses, she said, but she hasn’t gotten the details on everything yet.

As part of the Humanities Scholars program, Zepp studied abroad for a semester in Cuzco, Peru. She also worked as editor of UMBC’s creative arts journal and spent time volunteering in Baltimore County and the city.

She was director of the Reach Initiative at UMBC, a program that offers support and tutoring for high school girls in Baltimore City who are interested in pursuing science, technology, engineering or math.

Photo, Cody Boteler / Baltimore Sun Media Group