Six graduating Hope College seniors or recent graduates will spend next year abroad through teaching fellowships, including two through the Fulbright U.S. Student Program sponsored by the U.S. Department of State.

It is the second year in a row that multiple Hope students have received such fellowships.

Barr, a language arts composite major who minored in French, will be teaching in Nice in the south of France. She hopes to return to West Michigan and find a teaching position after her year abroad.

Boboltz, a German education major, will be teaching at two schools in "Ried im Innkreis" in Austria. She student taught German last fall at Mather High School in Chicago, and will work with the college's Upward Bound program this summer. Her career interests include teaching at the high school level and working with immigrants, possibly teaching ESL to adults.

Mercer, a business management and French major, will be teaching at Nante in France. His career goal is to work internationally.

After her year in Germany, Nelson, a German and psychology major, intends to pursue a master's degree in clinical social work. She ultimately hopes to work with the international community in the United States, such as through counseling and helping them to integrate into the community, and also plans to work with people who have substance abuse problems.

Reese, a classical studies and French major, will spend her year in Rennes, France. She is also a contestant in the forthcoming Miss Michigan Pageant, being held in Muskegon in June, having won the Miss Wayne County Scholarship Pageant in the fall. Her plans include pursuing a master's degree at either the University of Exeter or the University of Oxford in England, after which she hopes for a career in diplomacy with the United Nations.

Seifert, a German and theatre major, will spend the year in Berlin, Germany, where she also studied during the 2003-04 school year. During the forthcoming summer she will be working as a stage manager with Hope Summer Repertory Theatre, and while in Germany next year plans to get involved in the theatre and arts scene in Berlin, in keeping with her career interest in theatre.