KIRKSVILLE, MO. -- A Kirksville grad is awarded the Fulbright Scholarship for the upcoming school year.
Christine McCormick, a 2005 graduate from Kirksville High School is a 2010-2011 Fulbright Scholar.
She will travel to Germany to teach English through the Fulbright U.S. Student Program
McCormick begins her trip to Germany Friday and has barely had time to rest this summer.
“This past week was our tall ships festival up in Chicago so we had 20 ships from all over the world and I was working the entire time. I just haven't had time to panic yet. These couple of days it's sort of a calm down, figure out what's going on then maybe panic,” said 2010-2011 Fullbright Scholar Christine McCormick.
McCormick has been sailing tall ships since she graduated from Grinnell College in 2009.
She got the chance to go to St. Croix to teach kids about boats this past summer.
“Teaching them about the science of it, the navigation, the poetry, how the boat actually works, and all that cool stuff. And these were kids, they're from St. Croix but they've never been on the water before. They've never been on a boat. We're taking them out on a 100 foot schooner and it was just opening their eyes. It was a really cool thing,” said McCormick.
McCormick says that teaching experience could be a large part of why she received the Fulbright Award.
She will live and work in Germany teaching English from September through June.
How does it feel to be able to call yourself a Fulbright Scholar?
“I was speechless. I was down in St. Croix I was on the boat and got this in the mail and I just, I couldn't talk, this is so amazing I couldn't believe it,” said McCormick.
McCormick says she might get a chance to sail back from Germany to America on “The Bounty.”
That ship is the same one from the Pirates of the Caribbean.