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Academic Advising > Wheaton scholars > 2007 scholars

2007 Wheaton Scholars

Wheaton students have won more than 75 prestigious academic awards since 2001, including three Rhodes Scholarships: Alex Dewar in 2006, Carolyn Wills in 2005 and Miles Sweet in 2001.

Wheaton students also have won five Watson Fellowships, British Marshall, Goldwater, Beinecke, Trumans, Fulbrights, Rotary Ambassadorial scholarships, Udalls, James Madison Fellowships and an American Council for International Education scholarship.

The Watson Foundation calls Wheaton a "model success story," and the Institute for International Education recently recognized Wheaton as one of the top liberal arts colleges producing Fulbright scholars.

Wheaton's 2007 scholars are:






Laura Burr '07

2007 Fulbright Scholar
South Glastonbury, Conn.

A psychology major and education minor, Burr will teach English in Taiwan. She has her sights set on a career in educational reform and is eager for more experience as a classroom teacher, having completed her student teaching at the Yelle Elementary School in Norton. At Wheaton, Burr was a senior peer academic adviser and a member of the all-female Whims a cappella group, serving as its music director for two years.



Laura Corkery '07

2007 Fulbright Scholar
Marshfield, Mass.

Laura Corkery has been fascinated with all things French since she was a young child, when her mother took her to Renoir exhibitions and the family traveled often to Europe. A French Studies and International Relations major, she will teach English in the university town of Rennes, France. A Dean's List student every semester, Corkery was active on campus, singing with the Wheaton Chorale and Chamber Singers and serving as president of the French Club. As a senior she was a tutor for the French Department, an experience that ignited her interest in teaching. Corkery has also been involved in the Russian Club and the Relay for Life fundraiser for cancer research.



Michael Freese '08

2007 Fulbright-Hays
Newport, Maine

A Presidential Scholar and Dean's List student, Freese will study Russian language, history and literature at Gertsen University, one of Russia's leading institutions of higher education. Having been abroad only once, on a trip to Europe, Freese is looking forward to immersing himself in Russian society.




Shanita Gopie '07

2007 Fulbright Scholar
Westbury, N.Y.

An English major with minors in Asian studies and studio art, Shanita Gopie will teach English in Hong Kong during her Fulbright year. She will work at the Hong Kong Institute of Education, a public, university-level school dedicated to teacher training. Gopie will spend at least 20 hours per week teaching in the classroom and will also organize language-related cross-cultural student activities. A major presence on the Wheaton campus, Gopie was co-director and choreographer of the multicultural dance troupe, Trybe; co-director of the New Interfaith Alliance; a member of the Distinguished Women of Color Collective; and a writer for the Wheaton Wire student newspaper.



Rose Maizner '06

2007 Fulbright Fellow
Holladay, Utah

Rose Maizner's Fulbright Fellowship to Argentina will allow her to study how culture influences the immigration and adjustment of Muslim women. Her research plans grow out of earlier scholarship on the challenges that Muslim women face in immigrating and adjusting to U.S. society. Argentina has the largest Muslim population in Latin America and Maizner says that the minority presence has been a source of tension in that country since the early 1990s.

A Balfour Scholar, Maizner graduated magna cum laude from Wheaton. She also was elected to Psi Chi, the national honor society for psychology, Phi Beta Kappa, the national honors society; and to Kappa Kappa, the Hispanic Studies honor society.




Courtney McPhail '05

2007 Fulbright Scholar
New York, New York

Wheaton College alumna Courtney McPhail '05, who majored in German and minored in studio art, will teach English in Germany. McPhail studied abroad in Regensburg, Germany, during her junior year at Wheaton, and she hopes eventually to become a German translator or teacher. Since graduation, McPhail has been working as a recruiter in a New York City staffing agency. At Wheaton, she was a member of the German Club, a dean's list student and the recipient of the Hedda Korsch Prize in German in 2005. She also worked as an assistant in the German department during her senior year.




Myles Matteson '06

2007 British Marshall Scholar
Epson, N.H.

The political science major's passions include international law and domestic justice systems, in particular in developing nations. He hopes to pursue a Doctor of Philosophy at Oxford, with a focus on socio-legal studies. Matteson recently interned in Rwanda with the Prosecutor General of the Republic, where he extradited genocide fugitives and gained valuable hands-on experience in international law.





Stefan Sirucek '06

2007 Fulbright Scholar
Wellfleet, Mass.

Stefan Sirucek, a German major at Wheaton, will teach English in Germany, where he will apply his knowledge of filmmaking and theater in the classroom. At Wheaton, Sirucek wrote plays for student play festivals and made a number of video films, including a 10-minute experimental film called Zwischenmensch, which explored the plight of identity in the modern world. Sirucek was a founder of the Wheaton Filmmaking Club. In 2006 he completed an internship with documentary filmmaker Jed Riffee.

A Balfour Scholar and a Presidential Scholar at Wheaton, Sirucek graduated summa cum laude. He was elected to the Phi Beta Kappa national honor society. He contributed poems to Rushlight, the student literary magazine, wrote for the Wire student newspaper, and published an alternative paper called the Underwire.




Ashley Smith '08

2007 Beinecke Scholar
Madison, Maine

A Balfour and Presidential Scholar at Wheaton, Smith is pursuing a major in French as well as an anthropology major focused on Native American culture. The $30,000 Beinecke Scholarship will allow her to follow her interest in Native American heritage as a graduate student, continuing to study the effects of oppression on Native American identity in the Northeast. Smith plans to pursue a doctorate in anthropology with an eye toward a career in college teaching and research.



Sarata Toriola '07

2007 Fulbright Scholar
Bronx, N.Y.

"I've always had a drive to experience everything and every culture, and to be as open as possible," says Toriola, an English major and campus leader who will teach English in South Korea and conduct research on Korean women writers. At Wheaton, Toriola served as chair of the College Hearing Board and as a leadership development intern with the Office of Student Life. She coordinated events for the Marshall Multicultural Center and served as a peer advisor for the Center for Global Education. She was a member of the Black Students Association, the Distinguished Women of Color Collective, and Renaissance House, Wheaton's residence hall for women of color. She was also the co-founder of Voices United to Jam, Wheaton's gospel and R&B singing group.



Laura Tschop '07

2007 Fulbright Scholar
McKnightstown, Penn.

A major in psychology and a minor in early childhood education, Laura Tschop will teach English in South Korea. Tschop has previous experience teaching English as a second language in the Dominican Republic and her native Pennsylvania, and is eager to apply her skills in a new culture. At Wheaton, Tschop served as president of the Community Service Council and helped coordinate a student trip to New Orleans to participate in rebuilding during a winter break. She has been active in Voices United to Jam, a gospel and R&B vocal group, the Christian Fellowship, and the Relay for Life fundraiser. She has also served fellow students as a peer mentor for academics and global programs. In 2005, Tschop's commitment to helping others was recognized with the college's Richard and Virginia Thornburgh Leadership Award for Public and Community Service.




Janet Turkovich '05

2007 Fulbright Scholar
Westford, Mass.

Turkovich will teach high school students English as a Foreign Language in Hamburg, Germany. A double major in German and French at Wheaton, Turkovich recently finished her second year on a French Government Teaching Assistantship in which she taught English to children in elementary school. "'I love to compare and contrast French and German cultures," she said, "so I'm excited to experience some of the differences between French and German school systems."
She was a Balfour Scholar at Wheaton and was active as a foreign language tutor and college admissions ambassador. She also worked at the college's Elisabeth W. Amen Nursery school, and spent her junior year abroad in France and Germany. Turkovich received several prizes for her language achievement at Wheaton, as well as the Presidential Award for students who have a GPA of 3.75 or higher.




Derron J.R. Wallace '07

2007 Watson Fellow
Bronx, N.Y.

Wallace has been named a Watson Fellow, one of 50 college seniors nationwide who show unusual promise as leaders and global citizens. The Watson Fellowship funds a year of independent exploration and travel outside the United States. A major in sociology and African diaspora studies, Wallace plans to study the historical roots and current practice of the Pentecostal faith tradition among worshippers in Trinidad and Tobago, Ghana, Ethiopia, United Kingdom, and Guatemala. Pentecostalism represents one of the fastest-growing segments of global Christianity, according to the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life.

A Posse scholar and an outstanding student leader at Wheaton, Wallace was president of the Student Government Association and was active as a peer academic adviser, a member of the Wheaton Chorale and Chamber Singers, a founding member of the Voices United to Jam gospel group, and chair and founder of the Disability Awareness Committee. He was also a Wheaton Presidential Scholar and a member of Phi Beta Kappa.



Ashley Young '07

2007 Fulbright Scholar
Westford, Mass.

Ashley Young, a biology major and environmental studies minor from Westford, Mass., has been awarded a research Fulbright to study the effect of invasive species on the lives of indigenous people in Canada. The Balfour Scholar will investigate the impacts of the black-tailed deer on the Haida people of the Queen Charlotte Islands, and the emerald ash borer beetle on tribes in the Southern Ontario Region. Her research project aims to give the previously underrepresented indigenous people a voice in the decision-making process.

At Wheaton, Young won the Presidential Award for outstanding academic achievement. She was a statistics tutor, co-president of the Wheaton Archery Club and co-founder of HOPE (Helping Out Pets Everywhere).






 

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