COLCHESTER, Vt. - Saint Michael's College May graduate Livy Waranis (Narragansett, R.I./Narragansett), a women's swimming & diving captain as an undergraduate, will teach English in Bulgaria for a year after earning a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant (ETA) Scholarship. She is the seventh Saint Michael's student-athlete or former student-athlete chosen for a Fulbright Scholarship since 2018, and the fourth in four years.
 
Through her scholarship, Waranis will begin her teaching assignment in September and return home next July. She follows men's cross country alumnus Pat McGloine '25, who performed research in Vietnam, and Jarrett Sweet '25, who spent time in the Czech Republic on a Fulbright ETA Scholarship. Sweet was a member of the men's cross country and Nordic skiing teams as a first-year at the College.
 
"I first heard about Fulbright through Patrick and Jarrett, two of my close friends," said Waranis. "Seeing them apply and pursue opportunities abroad inspired me to explore Fulbright myself. Being a part of the swimming & diving team, it was hard to get the chance to go abroad, and I realized this was the perfect opportunity. As an elementary education and equity studies major, I was especially drawn to the opportunity to teach English abroad while learning from another culture and education system."
 
The oft-honored Waranis earned more than a dozen national and conference academic honors during her Purple Knight swimming career, including landing a pair of College Sports Communicators Academic All-District nods and three Division 2 Athletics Directors Association (D2 ADA) Academic Achievement Awards. A captain as a senior, Waranis turned in nine runner-up showings among 21 top-three finishes this past winter. She credited Patricia Siplon, a Saint Michael's political science professor and the undergraduate fellowship coordinator for more than a decade, as being integral to her Fulbright process.
 
"While exploring my options with the help of Dr. Siplon, I kept coming back to Bulgaria," said Waranis. "I was especially drawn to the country's strong emphasis on community, education, and extracurricular involvement, which aligned closely with my interests in elementary education and equity studies. I admired the focus on supporting students both inside and outside of the classroom. I am especially looking forward to building connections with students and my local community, experiencing everyday life in Bulgaria, and growing both personally and professionally through teaching abroad. I'm excited for the opportunity to learn from a different culture and bring those experiences back with me in the future."
 
The College has been represented often by student-athletes through the Fulbright Scholarship program during the past decade. In 2018 alone, women's cross country/Nordic skiing alumna Emma Barnes '18, two-year Nordic skier Emily Burns '15, and two-year women's lacrosse student-athlete Emily Byrne '18 were awarded Fulbright ETA Scholarships to teach in Indonesia, Brazil and Spain, respectively. Three-year women's soccer player Aisha Navarrete '23 later secured an ETA placement in Mexico in 2023. Between 2020 and 2026, another half dozen students with ties to Athletics were semifinalists for Fulbright Scholarships.
 
The Fulbright Program, which has fostered mutual understanding between the U.S. and other countries since 1946, offers about 8,000 scholarships per year to people in the U.S. and in 160 countries. Among the ranks of Fulbright alumni are 62 Nobel Prize recipients, 78 MacArthur Foundation Fellows, 89 Pulitzer Prize winners, and 41 current or former heads of state or government, according to the U.S. Department of State. Visit us.fulbrightonline.org for more information.
 
 In 2024, Saint Michael's College was recognized by the Fulbright Program as a top producer of scholars in the Fulbright U.S. Student Program for the 2023-2024 academic year. Fulbright Scholarship applicants at Saint Michael's are mentored through its Institute for Global Engagement, which serves as the collaborative hub of international activity at the College. The Institute promotes global learning and literacy, helps deepen intercultural competency and inclusion, and supports opportunities for global engagement for students, staff, alumni, and local community members. The Institute houses the College's study abroad programs, international internship programs, undergraduate and post-graduate fellowships, and Peace Corps Prep programs. Students also receive career advising and mentoring with an international focus.