German program at BGSU is home to four Fulbright winners

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Fulbright Award winners
(from left) April Reiter, George Hemphill, Andrea Weatherman and Kate Portnoy.

A group of four Bowling Green State University graduate students share a unique history. They all began
the master’s degree program in German at the same time, spent a year in Austria together and have all
been named Fulbright Award winners.
Katie Portnoy knew at an early age she had an aptitude for languages. She took German in high school and
decided to continue studying it in college. After earning an undergraduate degree at Truman State
University in Missouri, the St. Louis native headed north. "BGSU was one of the only schools that
offered the first year abroad and that’s how I ended up here for grad school," Portnoy said.
"When I first heard that BGSU’s program was in Austria, instead of Germany, I was a little
apprehensive," she said. "The German dialect in Austria is different, but I learned to love
the language there. It has a comforting feeling to it."
Portnoy will go back to Salzburg, Austria, in the fall for her Fulbright assignment to work as an English
assistant in the Austrian version of a high school. She hopes to become a translator for the federal
government or work freelance.
Washington native April Reiter’s Fulbright assignment will require a bit of additional planning. Reiter,
who is dating fellow Fulbright winner George Hemphill, will be Tamsweg, Austria, far from the city
Hemphill is assigned. She says they’ve worked out a plan, but it will still be an adventure.
Reiter will be an assistant English teacher at three secondary schools and plans to pursue a career in
international education and/or educational publishing.
"I can’t wait to see my friends again, join my Scottish Country Dancing group again, and hike the
gorgeous mountains there," Reiter said. "And how amazing is it to get paid to live abroad in a
country you love and get the chance to speak a language you love every day?"
Austria is a familiar country to Hemphill. He spent time in Salzburg during his undergraduate years at
the University of Maine, where he was a double major in international affairs and political science and
German. He’ll spend his Fulbright assignment in Lambach, Austria.
"I look forward to not only obtaining new work experience in a foreign country by being a teaching
assistant there, but also the chance to develop the contacts I have made over the previous years,"
Hemphill said.
He hopes to continue his studies either in a Ph.D or different master’s program with the goal of working
for the U.S. government, a non-governmental organization, or an international organization such as the
United Nations.
Music is Andrea Weatherman’s first love, and what she got her undergraduate degree in at Converse College
in South Carolina. An accident aggravated chronic back problems, and she chose to give up piano and look
at other career options.
"I had considered teaching as a career for a while," Weatherman explained. "I’d taught
piano in the past and done some tutoring. I’d studied some foreign language as an undergrad, but it was
a dynamic classroom experience later on that got me interested in German and I threw myself into
learning the language."
The Arkansas native says she realized studying German reminded her of her music studies. "There are
a variety of skills to be practiced and explored, and that appeals to me."
Weatherman will be spending her Fulbright assignment in Germany as an English teaching assistant at a
secondary school.
The U.S. Congress established the Fulbright in 1946. It provides funding for students to participate in
graduate study, advanced research, university teaching, and teaching in elementary and secondary
schools.

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