UC School of Education student wins Fulbright award to teach abroad

UC School of Education student wins Fulbright award to teach abroad

Allison Korniak will deepen her perspective teaching English in the Czech Republic

Allison Korniak's laptop was broken.

This is definitely an inconvenient situation for a college senior closing in on graduation (it also delayed setting up this interview), but, as she'd later learn, while the computer wasn't working she missed an important email alerting her to some exciting news.

"I remember I was driving and I [heard from] my advisor and she said, 'Did you see the news?' I was like, 'What? My computer's been down, bro!'" says the senior Univerity of Cincinnati Middle Childhood Education student. "She said, you need to check your email. So I did and … oh my God! I called my mom, I ran around my house. I didn't know what to do. It was crazy."

The news Korniak missed was, in fact, big-she had been announced as a recipient of a Fulbright U.S. Student Program award. Established in 1946, the Fulbright program provides funds to students, scholars, scientists, professionals, teachers and artists to enable them to study, conduct research and teach in over 160 countries and territories around the world. The U.S. Student Program, specifically, provides grants to recent graduates and graduate students for opportunities to spend an academic year abroad teaching or pursuing academic work.

The federally funded program is both prestigious and ambitious, and, broken computer notwithstanding, Korniak had just learned she was a 2025-26 awardee.

"I wanted to be in that classroom"

Korniak is a natural choice for the teaching abroad opportunity. She was first drawn to education when she herself was in middle school, inspired by an English teacher who managed to ignite a love of learning in a student who, by her own admission, "famously did not like school."

"In seventh grade, no one wants to come to school," she says. "But I had that teacher who made me want to show up every day. It felt like I wasn't at school, you know? I wanted to be in that classroom."

That middle school experience has guided her academic career, too, as she seeks to gain training and skills to provide something similar for the next generation. "I always said that I wanted be the teacher who makes kids want to come to school, that makes kids want to actually learn," Korniak explains. "I mean, in the age of AI and technology, no one wants to learn anymore."

A Cincinnati native with strong UC connections-her siblings attended UC, as did her mom-Korniak flirted with the idea of leaving the Queen City for an education in Chicago but ultimately decided to keep Cincinnati as a home base, knowing she wanted to travel abroad during and after college. Plus, UC's School of Education offers a number of advantages to aspiring teachers, notably the practice of placing students into classrooms for a variety of experiences.

"They really try to put you in schools as much as possible," she says. "My friends that go to OU and Kent State, they see one school. But in order to become a teacher, you need to see all the resources to understand every classroom environment and every student."

Allison Korniak UC Middle Childhood Education student

Korniak lists Clark Montessori, Clifton Area Neighborhood School (CANS) and Coryville Catholic (among others) as schools she's worked at and notes that each provided distinct learning opportunities. "I had an excellent mentor at CANS that really helped me," she says. "She helped me kind of understand my place in the classroom."

Learning by teaching abroad

This mentor at CANS also encouraged Korniak's interest in an opportunity to teach abroad in Poland, which she ultimately pursued and loved. So when a representative from UC's Office of Nationally Competitive Awards (NCA) gave an in-class presentation about Fulbright funding opportunities for overseas teaching experiences, Korniak was all ears.

"I had done Poland, and that sparked my interest of being like, OK, I want to go abroad after college," she explains. "So I applied." She chose to pursue teaching in the Czech Republic, as she could apply to only one country and the Czech Republic had no language requirement, and explains that the application process involved a lot of collaboration with NCA to ready materials such as her statement of grant purpose, an abstract essay, and short answers to a series of questions. "I'm a yapper," laughs Korniak. "So I was trying to go into it, and she's like, 'Cut that out.'"

Once her materials were ready, Korniak sat for an interview with UC representatives to determine if the institution would recommend her for Fulbright application. After this, the Fulbright team narrowed down the list of applicants, with final choices being made by the host country. In the case of the Czech Republic, only 25 applicants would ultimately be chosen to teach in the country for the year.

Odds being what they were, Korniak had also signed up for (and even put down a deposit on) a travel abroad program to teach English in Spain. Then her computer broke, she got the call from her advisor, she phoned her mom, and there was running around the house.

As Korniak prepares for graduation, she has a lot to thank UC for. In addition to her in-class instruction, classroom experiences and guidance during the Fulbright application process, she's also grateful for her time as a Theta Phi Alpha sorority member, having served as secretary and executive board member. "That helped me meet so many people," she says. "I want to hear people's stories. I want to hear people's perspectives."

After graduation she's headed to the Czech Republic, and Korniak knows what she hopes to gain from a year teaching abroad. "I chose UC because I wanted to get as much experience in every classroom as possible, and I think that a great way to do that is to go abroad," she says. "In this day and age, you need cultural awareness. I think that's extremely important in the classroom. I want to train on how to see every single perspective and how to welcome every culture and how to welcome every environment. And I think the best way to do that is just to get out in the world."

Ultimately, Korniak wants to apply her experiences abroad to create a welcoming and engaging experience for all students, in a classroom kids actually want to learn in. "When I come back to the States," she says, "I would like to put my experiences from living in a foreign country into the classroom."

Featured image at top: Allison Korniak sits outside on the University of Cincinnati campus. Photo: Trey Johnson/CECH Marketing

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