Gulf Pine Catholic

Gulf Pine Catholic • May 4, 2018 8 Thank you for your generosity. A small portion of collection pays for this advertisement. The collection will be held May 12 and 13. Resurrection grad Stone receives prestigious Fulbright Award Kelsey Stone, a Millsaps College senior and 2014 graduate of Resurrection Catholic High School in Pascagoula, has received a Fulbright U.S. Student Program award to Taiwan from the U.S. Department of State and the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board. Stone will teach English through a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship. The Fulbright Program offers research, study, and teaching opportunities in more than 140 countries to recent graduates and graduate students. Recipients are selected on the basis of academic and professional achievement as well as record of service and leadership potential in their respective fields. Stone follows in the footsteps of nine recent Millsaps graduates and one professor who have been recipients of prestigious Fulbright awards. Kenneth Townsend, chair of the Millsaps Fellowships Committee, praised the selection of Stone. “Kelsey has had an impressive career at Millsaps, inside and outside the classroom, and I am delighted to see that good work acknowledged by the Fulbright Program,” he said. “We are all excited to see what the future holds for Kelsey in Taiwan and beyond.” Stone, who is from Grand Bay, Ala., but attended middle and high school in Mississippi in Pascagoula, will teach and share American culture starting in August 2018 in Taitung City, which is located on the southeast coast of Taiwan and home to the largest aboriginal population in Taiwan. Majoring in religious studies with minors in peace and justice studies as well as Vocation, Ethics and Society, Stone became interested in East Asian reli- gious traditions and culture after taking a class with Dr. Lola Williamson, now emerita associate professor of religious studies. “I learned of the conflation between culture, reli- gion, and identity, and that made me want to pursue studying and teaching in Taiwan specifically,” Stone said. “My experience with Dr. Kristen Golden in the Peace and Justice Studies Department, both as a student and a teaching fellow, helped me connect the role of intercultural understanding and education with my own desire to be a part of global peace building and initia- tives. Fulbright Taiwan’s mission statement is, ‘a world with a little more knowledge, and a little less conflict,’ and I wanted to be a part of enacting this vision.” Dr. Lynn Raley, an associate professor of music at Millsaps who grew up in Taiwan, said Taiwan seemed right given Stone’s interests. Raley received a Fulbright Scholar grant to teach music at National Chiao Tung University in Hsinchu, Taiwan, dur- ing the 2012-2013 academic year. “When Kelsey approached me about different coun- tries to apply to, I talked about the diversity of religious practices in Taiwan, from Daoism to Buddhism, Confucianism, Taiwanese folk religions, and even com- binations of the above,” he said. “I also talked about the island coun- try’s open-minded, pro- gressive society, and it all seemed a perfect fit. “Kelsey is very inter- ested in helping under- served communities, and Fulbright ETAs are placed in many of those locations. There are 14 recognized aboriginal tribes in Taiwan, all with their own language. Taitung, where Kelsey will teach, is a small city on the beautiful east coast, directly across from Green Island. It is a short boat ride from Orchid Island, the home of yet another tribe, the Tao, who have been there for over 800 years.” Stone has been involved in numerous activities on campus, including M-3 Millsaps Mindfulness Movement (founder), Millsaps Better Together (co- president), and PRIDE (vice president). Stone was a Student Body Association senator and is treasurer of the Jewish Cultural Organization, and a research and technology assistant at the Millsaps- Wilson Library. A Davis Fellow in the inaugural cohort of the Millsaps College International Perspectives Program, Stone completed a teaching fellowship on campus with Dr. Kristen B. Golden, associate professor of philoso- phy, and her Our Human Heritage Turning Points class, and off-campus internships at Echo Park United Methodist church in Los Angeles and the Human Rights Campaign in Jackson. After completing their Fulbright scholarship, Stone hopes to continue teaching, explore interfaith chap- laincy, or pursue becoming a mindfulness-based stress reduction licensed clinical social worker. Stone Heavenly Father, bless Your Church with an abundance of holy and zealous priests, deacons, brothers and sisters. Give those You have called to the married state and those You have chosen to live as single persons in the world the special graces that their lives require. Form us all in the likeness of Your Son so that in Him, with Him and through Him we may love You more deeply and serve you more faithfully, always and everywhere. With Mary, we ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen. Prayer for Vocations