At The University of Scranton, Jenyah Cunningham ’25 carefully planned her four-year journey en route to receiving a world-class academic fellowship. Cunningham, who graduated as a double major (secondary education, English; English), of Brooklyn, New York, was selected for a prestigious Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship to Taiwan.
The Fulbright Student Scholarships program is a prestigious international academic exchange opportunity provided competitively by the U.S. government. Cunningham is the 132nd University of Scranton student since 1972 to be awarded a Fulbright award.
Cunningham is slated to teach English at a junior high school from August through June 2025 as one of nearly 200 Fulbright award recipients stationed in Taiwan. While at Scranton, she had a Chinese language focus within her Asian studies concentration.
It will be Cunningham’s second trip to the country. She completed a study abroad program in summer of 2024 at Fu Jen Catholic University, a Jesuit college in Taiwan.
“I had the best time there,” she said. “I thought it was the most amazing place, so that solidified my option to choose Taiwan as my country to go to.”
While learning new people, places and ways of life can be intimidating, Cunningham’s up for the challenge. She grew up in Montgomery, Alabama, moved to New York to attend school, then enrolled at The University of Scranton before even stepping on campus.
“I found myself at The University of Scranton because my college advisor at the time told me that the University has a great education program,” Cunningham recalled. “I didn’t expect to get in. But I got in, they gave me financial aid, and I said, ‘Why not come to Scranton?’”
Cunningham’s most difficult adjustment in college, she said, was living without her twin sister, Janeciah Cunningham. But after a few months, Cunningham fully embraced the Scranton community and all it had to offer, including her English advisor, Joe Kraus, Ph.D., professor and chair of the English Department, who encouraged her to look into the Fulbright program.
Before being selected for the fellowship, Cunningham began her teaching pursuits this past year with a 12-week student teaching assignment at Dunmore High School.
Going into Dunmore, Cunningham initially feared she wouldn’t be a good teacher and that she might not like the career she chose for herself. Thankfully, such fears were unfounded, and she called her experience of teaching 10th-grade English “very amazing.”
Find out how Cunningham faced her fears in order to fulfill her childhood dream.
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