Basking Ridge Student Selected As Fulbright Scholar

BASKING RIDGE, NJ — Dartmouth College senior Nicole Castillo, a Basking Ridge resident and Ridge High School graduate, has been selected as a Fulbright Scholar.

Castillo, a government and Asian and Middle Eastern studies double major, will spend the next year in Morocco, teaching English.

Castillo's response to being selected:

“I always wanted to learn Arabic. At Dartmouth, I realized, you can’t learn the language without understanding the cultural context of it — and then how do you understand a country’s politics without its language? I went on the foreign study program to Fez, Morocco, and being there made me want to learn more.

Something as simple as living with a host family, waking up to the call to prayer and having dinner late at night — just adjusting to a slower rhythm of life. If you don’t have those daily experiences, it’s hard to understand a country.

This past summer I interned at an NGO, the Washington Office on Latin America, and almost every researcher there had fantastic stories about graduating and moving abroad to immerse themselves in a culture. It made me start researching what I could do to get back to the region that I had spent so much time studying.

I’m so honored to have been chosen for Fulbright. Being a cultural ambassador is a huge responsibility. I’m grateful for everything Dartmouth has done to support me throughout this process.”

(Image by Eli Burakian: Nicole Castillo of Basking Ridge)

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