Swimmer Ericka Kriedel Earns Fulbright Scholarship
When Ericka Kriedel graduates from Rider in May, she won’t be headed to her home in Wethersfield, Conn., but rather, to the unfamiliar environs of Southeast Asia. The captain of the Broncs’ swimming & diving team – the 2009 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference champions – Kriedel has obtained a Teaching Fulbright Scholarship to study in Thailand.
“I picked Thailand because I figured it would be completely different from anything I’ve ever known,” said Kriedel, a two-time MAAC All-Academic team member who majors in English at Rider. “I wanted to learn a language and learn about a culture that I knew nothing about.”
The Fulbright Program, the U.S. Government’s flagship international exchange program, is designed to increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries. Fulbright Program participants are chosen for their academic merit and leadership potential, and are given the opportunity to study, teach and conduct research, exchange ideas and contribute to finding solutions to shared international concerns.
“There are two different types of Fulbright Scholarships,” Kriedel said. “One is to do research and the other is to teach English.” Kriedel will be doing the latter.
Kriedel’s achievement reflects Rider’s commitment to the ideal of the true scholar-athlete. “This is a great honor for the University, the Department of Athletics, and Ericka,” said Dr. Jonathan Husch, Rider’s Faculty Athletics Representative. “Once again, this reinforces the fact that the academic performance of Rider’s student-athletes is taken just as seriously as their athletic success and that one does not preclude the other.”
Husch says that Kriedel’s example provides a standard to which other student-athletes can aspire. “What Ericka has accomplished is a tribute to her hard work and dedication, and something of which the entire University community is justifiably proud,” he said. “I know that there will be many others who will follow in her footsteps in the years to come.”
While the Fulbright is academic in nature, Kriedel achieved excellence in the pool this past season as well. She captured gold medals at the MAAC and ECAC Championships in February swimming on Rider’s record-setting 200 free relay team, and also won silver at the MAAC meet in the 100 backstroke.
“Ericka has an extremely positive attitude about life,” said Rider swimming & diving head coach Steve Fletcher. “Her enthusiasm for travel and new experiences has no doubt led her to this goal of earning a Fulbright appointment. It is a perfect fit for her, and her coaches and teammates are very proud of her accomplishment.”
That pride is shared by the University’s top administrators, who had had the honor of witnessing two Rider students, including one from Westminster Choir College, earn the honor last year. “I was delighted to hear the news that Ericka has been awarded a Fulbright,” said Dr. Donald Steven, provost and vice president for Academic Affairs. “She is a wonderful young scholar and a fine athlete. I am also very pleased to note that Ericka is the third Rider student to receive a Fulbright since 2008.”
Approximately 7,500 grants are awarded annually. “South America, Europe and Asia were options,” Kriedel said. “I speak Spanish and French, but not fluently. I thought it would be more challenging to go to Asia. I take Chinese right now, and I know a lot of Chinese culture, just from living in America.”
In Thailand, an independent Buddhist country west of Vietnam and east of India, Kriedel will teach middle school Thai children English. “Before I start teaching, I will attend a four-week language and culture enhancement program in Thailand in October and I start teaching in January for one year,” she said.
Since 1947, the Fulbright Scholar Program has awarded nearly 45,000 grants to support teaching and research in countries around the world. Today, it includes active programs in more than 125 countries.
“It pays for practically everything,” Kriedel said. “I will live with a host family. Hopefully they will speak some English.”
She was not so lucky with her first host family last summer during a service trip. “I lived with a host family in Costa Rica and they didn’t speak any English,” Kriedel said. “Knowing Spanish really helped me there.”
Kriedel taught English for three weeks in Costa Rica in 2008 in order to boost her résumé. “There was a section on the Fulbright application that asked about experiences abroad, experiences that were longer than one week,” Kriedel said. “I had backpacked in Europe for two weeks but that was my only such experience. Being able to say I lived abroad for three weeks really added to my chances of getting the Fulbright.”
Her time in Costa Rica provided an experience Kriedel could not have gained in the states. “I was teaching a very informal class at a community center to people who would just stop in for an occasional lesson,” she explained. “Nothing really structured, and it was very relaxed. There were other volunteers there doing other things besides teaching. The woman running the program asked me if I wanted to take a half-hour bus ride each day to teach English to a couple of doctors at a free medical clinic, so I did. It was really nice.”
Traveling abroad was always something Kriedel aspired to do. “My high school French and Spanish teacher talked about traveling and told me I would love studying abroad,” Kriedel said. “She had all of these great stories and I always wanted to do what she did.”
After graduating from Wethersfield High School, Kriedel had to choose between Northeastern University in Boston and Rider. “I really liked the Rider team,” she recalled. “I thought I could fit in. I liked Fletch (head coach Steve Fletcher) and his coaching style.”
At Rider, Kriedel made a major impression in the pool after less than a year. “My freshman year, I came in swimming a minute point (more than 1:00.0, less than 1:01) in the backstroke, and I had been trying to break a minute for two years,” she remembered. “In my first opportunity, at the MAAC Championships, I turned to the girls in my relay and said ‘I’m going to break a minute.’ I did, and after that, I began swimming on the relays. I look back on that as a big achievement for me.”
“She is a committed athlete in the gym and the pool who always responds to a challenge in training,” Fletcher said. “Her dramatic improvement in swimming throughout her four-year career at Rider is directly related not only to her willingness to be coached but also to her attitude as a self-starter.”
In the fall Ericka’s swimming career will be through, but her year of teaching in Thailand will begin, and she is already making travel plans for beyond that.
“I read about a scholarship you can apply for if you are already a Fulbright Scholar,” Kriedel said. “It’s for an internship at the UNESCO World Heritage Headquarters in Paris. I’ve always wanted to live in Paris, so I’d really like to apply for that.”
