UNL student receives Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship to Indonesia

            Abigail Jameson, a nutrition and health sciences major at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, has been awarded a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship Scholarship to Indonesia for the 2014-2015 academic year.

            Jameson, a graduate of Grand Island Senior High School, is a member of UNL's William H. Thompson Learning Community. She is the first UNL student to receive a Fulbright Award this year.

            The Fulbright Program, established in 1946 and funded by the U.S. Department of State, is designed to foster understanding between the United States and other countries.

            The U.S. Student Fulbright program gives recent graduates, graduate students and young professionals the opportunity to conduct research, study or teach in one of 155 designated countries. About 8,000 grants are awarded annually and about 1,600 of those grants are awarded to U.S. students.

            "Most of all, I'm proud," Jameson said. "This (Fulbright) feels like the biggest thing I've accomplished. It was a big risk."

            Jameson's Fulbright will allow her to travel to Indonesia for a year to teach English. She said her interest in health care and its accessibility led her to apply for the prestigious scholarship program; she already has traveled to Peru as part of a MEDLIFE (Medicine, Education and Development for Low-Income Families Everywhere) team working in a mobile medical clinic.

            When Jameson is not helping with English instruction in the classroom, she said she expects to volunteer at women's health clinics in Indonesia, hoping to gain a further understanding of global issues involving women's health.

            Jameson has been active and involved in the community during her college career -- she also has been a mentor and tutor at Clinton Elementary School and has worked as a student ambassador for EducationQuest Foundation, a nonprofit organization that works to improve access to higher education in Nebraska.

            "Teaching and mentoring students through these organizations had a great impact on my passion for equality with education," she said.

            Jameson also was a teaching assistant classroom mentor for Ann Koopmann, assistant director of the University Honors Program.

            "Throughout her undergraduate career, Abby has accepted the challenges of college and thrived while giving back through mentoring that has made a strong impact on its recipients," Koopman said.

            Upon her return from Indonesia, Jameson said she hopes to go to medical school with the goal of further alleviating health care and treatment disparities in the United States as well as abroad.

Writers: Kirsten Clawson and Kristen Sauma