St. Kate’s 2007 grad awarded Fulbright assistantship

Rebecca Pottebaum ’07 has been awarded a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship to Brazil in 2009. She was one of 24 applicants for five Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship grants to Brazil.

Pottebaum applied for the Fulbright for the opportunity to bring her educational and artistic passions together — teaching English at a music school and creating a youth arts program.

She will live in Salvador, the capital city of Bahia, a state in the northeastern region of Brazil. Salvador is an historic city with a wealth of culture, music and architecture.

“It is especially because of a few key classes at St Kate's and my work with Americorps, that I am conscious of and sensitive to many key social justice issues surrounding language-learning and youth work,” said Pottebaum. “I feel well-equipped to go to Brazil and be an educator there. I think it is incredibly important, in our ever-growing global community not only that youth are empowered; but that they take responsibility for their global citizenship.”

This past summer she was an Americorps volunteer with an after-school program in four inner city elementary and middle schools.

Pottebaum graduated with a baccalaureate degree in studio art and a minor in Spanish. Her coursework and a City Arts program through the Higher Education Consortium for Urban Affairs shaped the direction of her study towards the connection between art and social change.

Pottebaum is an accomplished photographer. She also practices the Brazilian martial art, capoeira, and is a self–described “art history nerd.” She is originally from Winterset, Iowa. Her sister Kate is a senior at St. Kate's.

By Julie Michener
Nov. 6, 2008

Contact Julie Michener, (651) 690-6521

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