Princeton swimmer Sarah Furgatch has been named the winner of a Fulbright Scholarship for the 2013-2014 academic year, which will allow her to study aboard in Spain for the next year.
The Fulbright Scholarship, one of the most prestigious international academic awards, provides funding for artist, graduate students, graduating seniors, and teachers to teach or study abroad for a full year, as well as bringing international students to the U.S. The program was founded in 1946 by Senator J. William Fulbright, who proposed a bill to use money from selling surplus U.S. government property from WWII to fund international exchange between the United States and other countries.
This exchange of academia was vital to repairing a torn planet after the World War, and create a sense of global unity that contributed to the eventual establishment of the United Nations. It also forgave debt by other countries earned during the war in exchange for their cooperation.
It has since become a huge honor, counting among its alumni 43 Nobel Prize winners, 78 Pulitzer Prize winners, 18 heads of state, and even a United Nations Secretary General. Thomas Pickering, who was the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations from 1989-1992 and actor John Lithgow (think the “dad” in the television show 3rd Rock From the Sun, among many, many other credits).
Furgatch is a 2013 graduate of Princeton. As a senior, she placed 3rd at the Ivy League Championships in the 200 breaststroke as the Tigers won the Ivy League team championship. In the summer of 2011, she was also an instructor at the UCLA Swim Camp closer to her home in Southern California.
Well done, Sarah! Congratulations on your accomplishment!