ALMA — Maria Vostrizansky, a member of the Alma College Class of 2024 from DeWitt, Mich., has been selected as Alma’s 30th Fulbright Scholar since 2003.
Vostrizansky, a double-major in political science and history, will use the award to teach English at schools in the Czech Republic. A graduate of DeWitt High School, she is the daughter of Mark and Christy Vostrizansky.
“There was a lot of hard work that was put into this application, but it was definitely worth it. I’m really grateful to Dr. Sandy Hulme and the Nationally Competitive Scholarship Committee at Alma College, who continuously pushed me to make edits and make my application the very best that it could be,” Vostrizansky said.
“I’m really looking forward to going to the Czech Republic and representing Alma College in this new way. Alma’s faculty and staff — namely Drs. Hulme, Liping Bu and Kristin Olbertson — have helped me in incredible ways since I started here.”
Vostrizansky is the most recent Fulbright Scholar at Alma College since Luke Losie won the award in 2023. Following her 10-month experience in the Czech Republic, from August 2024 to June 2025, she will enter The Fletcher School at Tufts University, in Massachusetts, to pursue a master’s degree in law and diplomacy.
In addition to her studies, Vostrizansky has participated in a number of extracurricular activities at Alma College, including Model United Nations, Kappa Iota, the Scots’ women’s tennis team, Student Congress and the Provost Search Committee. Vostrizansky said she became interested in the Fulbright program, in part, due to her experiences with the Posey Global Leadership Fellows Program at Alma College, which allowed her to travel to India to teach.
Student applications for the Fulbright Scholarship are reviewed and approved by the National Screening Committee of the Institute of International Education, the coordinating body for the Fulbright U.S. Student Program. The applications are forwarded to the Fulbright commissions in the projects’ countries, which select recipients from all candidates applying in those countries. The J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board makes the final selections.
The U.S. Student Program is funded by the U.S. Department of State to give recent undergraduate and graduate students, as well as young professionals, a chance for an international experience and personal development.
Alma College’s Nationally Competitive Scholarship Committee helps students search for appropriate postgraduate scholarships, then reviews the proposals and applications. Alma’s committee identifies and nurtures exceptional candidates for nationally competitive scholarships, grants and awards.