Ian Zwaschka, who received a BA in cinema and English & creative writing from the University of Iowa in 2021, is the winner of a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant Award to the Czech Republic for 2024-25. 

Hometown: Des Moines, Iowa 

Degrees: BA in cinema and English & creative writing 

Could you give us a brief synopsis of what you'll be doing with your Fulbright? 
I will be teaching high school students in the Czech Republic about the language and culture of the United States. I will also be doing a community engagement project, building a community around improvisational comedy. 

How do you envision this will influence your life/future career? 
This will be an opportunity to go to the Czech Republic to learn more about the country my family immigrated from. I am interested in Czech movies and their specific style of humor, so I want to use what I discover in the Czech Republic to inform my future scholarship on the country's cinema. 

What advice do you have for future students interested in applying for a Fulbright? 
I applied once already for the Fulbright in 2022. I was awarded an alternate position at that time. I decided to get an English teaching certificate and travel somewhere else, so I moved to Seoul to teach for a while. I decided to apply for the grant again this year, and I got it. My advice is if you want the Fulbright, go for it, but don't be discouraged if you don't get it the first time. Try something else for a while and then apply again with your new experiences in other places. 

Were there experiences at Iowa that inspired you to pursue a Fulbright?  
I discovered my interest in improvisational comedy at Iowa. The community around the arts and comedy in Iowa City is something that I will forever be thankful for. 

Are there individuals you'd like to thank for their investment in this process? 
I want to thank the Fulbright committee, Karen Wachsmuth, Ari Natarina, and the other advisors who gave me feedback during the years I applied. I want to thank the UI Department of Cinematic Arts, especially Andy Owens and Paula Amad, who guided my academic interests in 2021. I want to thank Andrea Siebenmann at the Czech and Slovak Museum in Cedar Rapids and Juliana Dukov at the TEFL Academy in Chicago. Lastly, I want to thank the students and faculty of the Iowa Writers' Workshop, many of whom were close friends and supporters of my application for the Fulbright. 

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