Bears Go Global – Student Receives Prestigious Fulbright Award

For Camryn Luksa, the road to receiving a Fulbright grant started with a little white lie.  

Luksa, a European Languages major with an emphasis in German, graduated this spring. Now that she has walked at commencement, she plans to ship out to Germany in September as an English teaching assistant in the Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program — the United States’ flagship international education initiative. Through the program, students and faculty are given the opportunity to visit one of over 135 countries around the world to conduct research and participate in cultural exchanges. 

Long before she received this prestigious honor, however, Luksa found herself at a crossroads. As a high school student, she was required to take a foreign language course. The youngest sibling in a family with three older brothers, she wanted to set herself apart.  

Since her brothers had all taken Spanish, that was a no-go. French was similarly impossible, due to the fact that her high-school “archenemy” had already enrolled in the class. That left Luksa with one option: German.  

Unfortunately, her family didn’t think her taking German was a good idea, citing the language’s difficulty and comparative rarity in the United States as reasons. That didn’t stop Luksa, however, and she forged her mother’s signature in order to get into the class. 

“They only found out six months later at parent-teacher conferences,” Luksa said. “But by then, I was doing really well, so it ended up becoming kind of a joke. After that, I fell in love with the language.” 

From that small fib, a passion was born.

As a first-generation college student, when Luksa came to the University of Northern Colorado (UNC), she didn’t quite know what to expect. She had originally planned to major in Economics, but upon discovering the German language track of the European Languages major, she switched up her plan, taking Economics as a minor (along with another minor in Teaching English as a Second Language) and majoring in the language she had come to love.  

By all accounts, that decision paid off, culminating in her recognition as the eighth student in UNC’s history to receive a Fulbright award. The most recent student to receive a Fulbright award prior to Luksa was Kristine Marie Bell, ‘19, who also earned an English teaching assistantship to Germany in the 2019-20 cycle. 

In recent years, several other students have been named as semifinalists for Fulbright grants, including Pennie Nichol, ‘24 and Jenna Mischke, ‘24 in 2024-25 and Destri Johnson, ‘22, in 2021-22.

RELATED: Faculty Fulbrights Offer Global Journey with a Personal Impact

For Luksa, being named a recipient of such a renowned and distinguished recognition naturally came with a lot of emotions. 

“I’ve had more than a few hard times in academia. I failed multiple classes in high school, I’ve withdrawn from and failed so many classes at UNC and had so much going on in my personal life that made me feel like I couldn’t focus on being the best student,” Luksa said. “But now, through all the tears I’ve cried and all the gray hairs I’ve sprouted, I feel like a new person. It’s been the most amazing vindication.” 

Looking ahead to her trip to Germany, Luksa is preparing to be the best cultural representative she can be. Aside from helping to teach English in German schools, her foremost task during the year-long Fulbright trip will be to participate in cultural exchange and represent the United States on a global scale.  

“My biggest role will be to show German kids what being an American is like,” Luksa said. “I have to be myself and demonstrate the value of this cultural exchange relationship.” 

Preparing for that role has been daunting, according to Luksa, but it’s something she knows is important, both for her own growth as a scholar and for the sake of inter-cultural exchange at a time when the United States is a divisive figure on the world stage. 

“I feel obligated to be overly observant of global events. I need to have a great understanding of not only the place I’m going, but also the place I’m coming from and how my country is impacting the country that will be hosting me,” Luksa said.   

As intimidating as that prospect is, Luksa said she’s had plenty of support getting to this point, including the help of Erin Noelliste, Ph.D., chair of the World Languages and Cultures Department and Karen Barton, Ph.D., professor of Geography, GIS and Sustainability.  

“Camryn’s Fulbright recognition is a tremendous accomplishment, both for her and for UNC,” Barton said. “Opportunities like Fulbright are incredibly competitive, and it’s exciting to see one of our students earn this kind of recognition. I hope her success also encourages more UNC students to pursue nationally competitive awards and see themselves as strong candidates for these opportunities.” 

With support like that behind her, Luksa knows she’ll be ready to tackle her role when she heads overseas in September. 

“I’m feeling like I’m finally breaking out of this bubble of imposter syndrome that I find myself in constantly,” Luksa said. “I couldn’t have done any of this without Dr. Noelliste, Dr. Barton and so many others. Seeing how smart and strong women can be in academia has been so inspiring.”  

To that end, Luksa hopes to stay in Germany once her Fulbright trip has ended, with goals to earn her master’s degree in Economics at Heidelberg University. From there, she’s set her sights on being a force for good in the world.  

“I want to change the world for the women in it,” Luksa said. “The women in my family have suffered, for lack of a better word, for so long, having no options available to them but to get married and have children. I feel a moral obligation, not just for myself, but for them and for all of womenkind, to use my education to make a difference.” 

One way she hopes to accomplish this is by examining and improving policies and working conditions in the clothing industry, particularly in places like Taiwan and Bangladesh. 

Before any of that, though, she’s got quite the trip ahead of her. A Fulbright grant is no small feat, after all.  

Thankfully, she won’t be alone as she travels abroad — her two cats, Bean and Bitty will be coming with her.