Local student has long ride to class.

 

 

By Greg Wells

CCN – Editor

 

 

Emily Hazel Fulton, known to everyone as simply Emma, is starting her junior year in high school. Her sophomore year was here in Cumberland County High School.

Previously, she’d been in a Utah high school before she and her family moved here.

Now, she has flown to Washington DC, on to Germany and then to Romania. That is where she will do her junior year.

She was one of 20 students chosen throughout the entire United States by the State Department in this program, called “Flex Abroad”, or Future Leaders Exchange. She won’t be back until next spring.

It was founded after the fall of the Soviet Union and subsequent independence for a number of Eastern European states, with the first exchange of students coming in 1993. One of the stated goals was, “strengthen ties between the peoples of the United States and Europe / Eurasia.”

Future leader would seem to be the perfect description of the quiet 16-year-old. She fell in with a certain crowd at the high school, the Civics Club. She has since progressed to being an intern for Cumberland County government.

She said she absolutely loves the program, and especially all the other interns and club members she has met and become friends with.

Emma said they have been wonderful, accepting and helpful.

County Judge-Executive Luke King said it was quite an accomplishment for her to be selected for the program, out of about 35,000 students who applied, but not something he wouldn’t expect of her.

“I’m definitely looking forward to having her back on the team when she returns. I do recognize that this is a valuable opportunity one of 20 in the nation chosen, so you can’t hardly beat that. I don’t wish that she wasn’t going because it will be a good opportunity for her, but I’ll be glad when the months are up and she comes back with all of the new information and new perspective of the world that she’ll have,” King said.

Emma herself was a little pensive last week as she prepared for the trip. She’s been to meetings with the organizers and with alumni, but they aren’t encouraged to give details, so previous participants’ experiences don’t build expectations for the next participants.

“I’m excited. I’m scared. I’m nervous,” Emma said with a big smile on her face.

Having voiced a desire to study overseas, Emma’s mother, Maria Fulton, gave her the information to apply for the program. She said she’s very proud of her daughter for taking this opportunity.

For her part, Emma says she speaks English, but not a lot of her one semester of Spanish is likely to help her in Romania.

“I know I’ll have language classes, but I don’t know what those will be like,” Emma said.

Her mother said she expects her to do well and to get along in the new culture quite well. She explained that the schools her children attended in Utah also served a sizable number of refugees. Something she is liable to experience there as well since the country shares a border with Ukraine.

After the days of language training, it’s on to Romanian high school and the adventure of living with a new family in a new country. A new country not just for her, but for Romanians as well.

It’s not been that long since they were swallowed up by the Soviet Union after World War II and only gained their independence after the failure of that communist government.

Now, it has gained a 16-year-old student from Cumberland County.

Emma has a plan for communicating state-side, and the program provides a cell phone for use in Romania. Add to that regular interaction with State Department personnel and a host family where the mother, father, and at least one son speak English quite well and both Emma and her mother expect to keep in touch.

So, in addition to learning regular high school lessons, one Cumberland County student this year will likely learn a lot about geopolitics and international affairs.

She and everyone who spoke about her said they believe she will dedicate her career to helping others.

She finished her interview in the News office by saying she was so excited about the trip but just couldn’t wait to get back to the civics club and all her friends.