KINGSTON, R.I. – June 30, 2025 – A recent University of Rhode Island graduate and two alumni have been selected for prestigious Fulbright U.S. Student Program awards. Selected by the U.S. Department of State and the Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board, recipients have the opportunity to conduct research, study or teach English overseas.

Joceline Rodrigues ’25 of Norwich, Connecticut, and Zack Harden ’24 of Newport were selected for Fulbright English Teaching Assistant Awards, and Alyssa Botelho ’21 of Fairhaven, Massachusetts, was awarded the Fulbright/Azores Government Open Study/Research Award. 

Alyssa Botelho, who graduated from URI with majors in film/media and management, will travel to the Azores from October through next May to work on a feature-length historical fiction screenplay set on the islands during World War I. The film will explore the Azorean-American relationship during the war, the changing tides of the whaling industry, and how global shifts affected livelihoods, culture, and generational identity, she says.

“My ultimate goal is to become a full-time filmmaker, especially in the realm of historical fiction–telling powerful stories from the past that can educate, inspire, and move us in the present,” says Botelho. “The Fulbright is giving me the opportunity to do exactly that. It’s an incredible honor to be given this kind of support and trust as a writer. It does feel like this could be my ‘break.’”

Botelho, community development coordinator for the Town of Fairhaven, has written and directed about 20 short films since she became interested in filmmaking at Fairhaven High School. Her most recent film, “Sweet Freedom,” an historical drama about New Bedford, Massachusetts, abolitionist Mary “Polly” Johnson, was supported by $50,000 in grants and crowdfunding. For her film capstone project at URI, she made the ambitious “To Dust All Return,” a drama set after the Salem witch trials, which won “Best Short Fiction” and “Best Director” from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.

Botelho credits URI with helping to turn a “passionate kid with a camera into a serious filmmaker” willing to challenge herself, including making the 17th-century period film “To Dust All Return” during the pandemic.

“Professor Keith Brown especially encouraged me to follow my instincts,” she says. “His support through each year of film school was huge in my development. And through URI, I connected with lots of incredible alumni from both the Harrington School of Communication and Media and the College of Business who gave me advice that still rings in my head daily.”

During her Fulbright trip, Botelho will spend a good deal of her time on São Miguel Island in the Ponta Delgada area, researching and writing the screenplay. She has already spoken to some local historians, including Ponta Delgada Councilman Sergio Rezendes.

“The idea for the project came from a combination of my heritage–I’m of Portuguese descent–and my creative obsessions: war stories, untold history, and the intersection of identity and conflict,” she says. “As a writer and director focused on historical fiction, I’m always chasing those stories hiding between the lines of the textbook.”

Joceline Rodrigues, who graduated in May with majors in biology and sociology, will travel to Portugal in October to work at the Instituto Superior de Gestão Business & Economics School in Lisbon. At the school, Rodrigues will mentor international students, present workshops, teach English classes and serve as a teaching assistant for undergraduate and master’s programs, among other tasks.

Rodrigues, who was an honors student on a pre-med track at URI, will also study the country’s health-care system. As a first-generation student who immigrated to the U.S. from Praia, Cape Verde, she plans to explore the country’s Lusophone communities.

“Getting the Fulbright is an absolute honor,” says Rodrigues, who was a Ryan Scholar, a Gilman Scholarship recipient, as well as the student commencement speaker at her graduation. “There is a deep Portuguese influence in my Cape Verdean heritage. Getting a Fulbright allows me to deepen my connection with not only the Portuguese community but also the numerous other Lusophone communities that reside in Portugal.”

During her Gilman Scholarship experience in 2024, Rodrigues was able to visit health care facilities in India, Argentina, and South Africa and witness different ways of healing and various health-care structures. In Portugal, she will do the same. 

“Portugal has one of the most remarkable health-care systems and, as someone who wants to improve health care around the world, this is an optimal opportunity for me to learn from another nation,” says Rodrigues, who plans to apply to medical school after a gap year.

While he was selected for a Fulbright Scholarship, Zack Harden, who graduated with honors in Chinese and Global Language Area Studies-Japanese, has opted to accept a spot in the competitive Japan Exchange and Training Program to teach English in Japan. The JET Program, which accepts about 1,000 U.S. participants each year, includes participants from more than 80 countries and provides a unique cultural-exchange opportunity to meet people from around the world.

With the JET Program, participants can renew their stay annually for up to five years, says Harden, who plans to stay two years. He will teach in Taiki, Hokkaido, Japan, which has a climate similar to Rhode Island, he notes. 

“The Fulbright is an incredibly prestigious program and I’m honored to have been accepted,” says Harden. “But I believe the JET Program’s extended length, allowing me to stay abroad longer and further develop myself as an educator, will have a far greater impact on my ability to pursue my chosen career path.”

URI students and recent graduates who are interested in applying to the Fulbright U.S. Student Program program should contact the URI Office of National Fellowships and Academic Opportunities for guidance and institutional endorsement.