CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - Harvard women's tennis co-captain Natasha Gonzalez will be taking off for Spain following her graduation next month, after being selected as a recipient for the 2020-21 Fulbright scholarship. With the grant, Gonzalez has chosen to travel to Madrid, Spain to teach English.
"I am so excited to live and work in Spain," says Gonzalez. "I am really looking forward to being immersed in Spanish culture and building on my proficiency in the Spanish language."
Gonzalez is a four-year letterwinner on the women's tennis team and has been a key contributor since her first season in 2016-17. Gonzalez has accumulated 68 doubles wins over the years, a total that is good for first in the The Sheila Kelly Palandjian Head Coach for Harvard Women's Tennis, Traci Green era (2007-current). The Houston native has earned a number of accolades in her time with the Crimson, including an All-Ivy League First-Team selection as a doubles pair with Erica Oosterhout, and four consecutive ITA Scholar Athlete Awards.
During her time in Cambridge, Gonzalez has matched her success on the court with her achievements in the classroom. While excelling in her philosophy major, Gonzalez also completed a pre-medical course of studies and plans to apply to medical schools upon her return to the United States.
Description of the Fulbright Proram
The Fulbright U.S. Student Program provides grants for individually designed study/research projects or for English Teaching Assistant Programs.
During their grants, Fulbrighters will meet, work, live with and learn from the people of the host country, sharing daily experiences. The program facilitates cultural exchange through direct interaction on an individual basis in the classroom, field, home, and in routine tasks, allowing the grantee to gain an appreciation of others' viewpoints and beliefs, the way they do things, and the way they think. Through engagement in the community, the individual will interact with their hosts on a one-to-one basis in an atmosphere of openness, academic integrity, and intellectual freedom, thereby promoting mutual understanding.
