Summer's big day: Senior lands Fulbright

April 5 was a big day for senior Summer Hunter-Kysor. Her parents traveled from their home in Pennsylvania to watch her as she presented at her final Student Research Conference. It had been a great day as she supported several her friends who also were presenting at the conference. Later in the day, she and her tennis teammates were headed to a match at Capital University when she got the call she’d been anticipating for six months. The Fulbright U.S. Student Program had selected Summer as an English Teaching Assistant in Germany for the 2017-18 academic year. She is the first-ever undergrad to receive a Fulbright award through Heidelberg.

“I was really shocked when I got the news. It was emotional and stressful, waiting for the decision,” said Summer, who will now forgo choosing among six graduate schools (Cornell and Syracuse, among others) for her once-in-a-lifetime Fulbright experience to teach English in Germany. This awesome honor doesn't surprise her professors. Read more about their reaction and about Summer's upcoming year in Germany here.