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Fulbright Program for U.S. Students

Fulbright U.S. Student
Grantee Newsletter

Issue 6 | March 2008

Discovering A New Place
table of contents

 Program Updates

Hong Kong Behind A Lens

by Alison Penzanoski-Browne, 2007-2008, Hong Kong

As a photographer/documentary producer on a Fulbright grant to Hong Kong, I have found it incredibly interesting to view a new city from behind a camera lens. The project I am working on is a documentary about socially withdrawn and non-engaged youth (teenagers who have dropped out of school and work) and why they withdraw from family, friends, and the outside world. For my research, I travel around the city talking to social workers, program directors, teachers, and students. I always bring my cameras. I find that it helps me to look at things more carefully, to notice things I normally wouldn’t. I hope that this will translate into my research, that it will help me to look at aspects of the issue I’m studying from multiple perspectives and in greater detail.

Alison Noelle Pezanowski-Browne, 2007-2008, China  
Alison Pezanoski-Browne, 2007-2008, Hong Kong

You can tell immediately when people are comfortable in a space. In some classrooms, the teenagers are withdrawn and shy. In others, they are talkative and excited to tell you about themselves. From getting the chance to observe people in different spaces (and photograph them often), I have gained a greater awareness of how to create a comfortable interview experience; one in which the subject is not afraid to give you a glimpse into his or her life.

Boy on KCR Train, APB, 2007-8, China  
Boy on KCR Train; Alison Pezanoski-Browne  

By traveling and conducting research in a new country, you are forced out of your comfort zone and meet people you might not otherwise. Even with self-directed research, you can’t do it alone. The people you meet are invaluable resources. This is an important part of the Fulbright experience. A city has so much to do with the people who live there. Capturing a person’s image with a camera, I get a different sense of who they are, which when coupled with talking with them, adds new knowledge of the place through their eyes.

Black and White Temple, APB, 2007-8, China  
Black and White Temple; Alison Pezanoski-Browne  
Tofu Stand, APB, 2007-8, China  
Tofu Stand; Alison Pezanoski-Browne


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Submitting Photos to the Fulbright Student Photo Gallery


We are now collecting photos from the entire current cohort of U.S. and Foreign Fulbright Student grantees.


-- The first time you submit photos, please send an email with your contact information to sallen@iie.org or tclaudino@iie.org. This email should not include any attached photos and is simply to notify us that you will be submitting photos to a specific gallery.

-- Please indicate your grant year and the country in which you are engaged in your Fulbright program. Photos from non-U.S. Fulbrighters are organized by home country; photos from U.S. Fulbrighters are organized by the country in which they are conducting grant activities. When in doubt, please send us an email with your questions.

-- With all submitted photos, you must include a caption that clearly indicates your name, country and a brief description (i.e., the title of the event attended, location where the photo was taken, etc.) of the content of the photo.

-- If you would like to create your own gallery of photos instead of submitting them to a country gallery, please notify us and we will create a personal gallery for you. Again, please make sure to add captions to each photo you submit.

-- You can only add photos, not delete them. If you need to delete photos, please contact us.

-- Click on the link below to enter photo gallery's home page:

http://photos.fulbrightonline.org

Enjoy using the Fulbright Photo Gallery!



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Acquaculture in Greece

by Konstantine Rountos, 2007-2008, Greece

Aquaculture has been expanding exponentially over the past three decades in Greece. Unfortunately, this expansion has developed at a faster pace than political and environmental policy can manage to regulate, leaving productive coastal ecosystems in the immediate area in danger.

Konstantine Rountos, 2007-2008, Greece  
Konstantine Rountos, 2007-2008, Greece
  

As an environmental scientist and conservationist, I am very interested in researching and promoting awareness of these important issues to the public of Greece. I am honored that the Fulbright Program has given me the opportunity to fulfill these goals. During my first few months in Greece, the waters along the coast have welcomed me with great visibility and warm temperatures, allowing me to explore its bounty to great extents. My first dive underneath a fish farm was an experience that I will never forget. Upon reaching the seafloor, an eerie feeling crept over me. I was surrounded by a field of black muddy sediment, topped with a fluffy layer of white bacterial biofilm. The general landscape was that of destruction and decay: rubber tires, metal buckets, and plastic bags replaced rocks, seagrasses, and sand. In the shadows of 35,000 fish swimming like zombies in a never-ending circle in each fish cage, a diver sees just how much detriment human beings bring when acting with disregard for the environment.

Konstantine Rountos, 2007-8, Greece 
Konstantine Rountos, 2007-2008, Greece
 
Greece is a country with some of the most beautiful waters in the world. It has become increasingly apparent to me and other researchers that accumulating pollution within certain coastal areas is beginning to diminish the natural beauty and important ecological function of these ecosystems. This has motivated me to promote a strong message of environmental education and responsibility to younger generations in Greece during my time here. Through lectures which include some of my personal underwater photographs, I have had the opportunity to show schoolchildren, rural fishermen, and villages visual evidence of anthropogenic impacts that they would normally not see as well as the absolute beauty that still lies below the surface. I feel it is important to inspire people to protect their oceans by showing them what they will lose if they do not respond. Some of the topics on which I have lectured have been about the importance of seagrass ecosystems and about the pros and cons of aquaculture in general. I have learned that in many school districts in Greece, environmental education is a low priority, and in some cases even entirely absent from the curriculum. This has and will continue to have severe implications as these generations begin to lead Greece in the years to come.

There is remarkable vision in the Fulbright Program to allow both U.S. and foreign students to have the opportunity to experience firsthand another culture. It is an experience that you cannot learn in any textbook. It is an experience that has the ability to change not only the way you look at the world, but to make a change in the world itself.



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A Call for Articles



We welcome articles with accompanying photos for future issues of the Fulbright U.S. Student Grantee Newsletter. Articles should ideally be about your experience of being abroad as a Fulbright grantee (and cultural ambassador), and any relevant and/or unique musings you might want to share with your fellow Fulbright grantees and others interested in the Fulbright Program. The length of the article should be no more than 500 words and not require much editing in order to be published. The accompanying photos should show you engaged in program activities, or be illustrative of your article's content. Please submit your articles with photos within two weeks of the release of this newsletter. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us. We look forward to receiving your articles!


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