![\"Amelia](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Amelia-Rivers-Headshot.jpg\")
Amelia Rivers, a recent graduate of the College of Music, at El Libertador Plaza Principal while traveling to Jard\u00edn, Colombia. (Amelia Rivers)\t\t<\/p>\n\t\tAmelia Rivers, a recent graduate of the College of Music, at El Libertador Plaza Principal while traveling to Jard\u00edn, Colombia. (Amelia Rivers)\t\t<\/p>\n
As a universal language, music often has the power to connect people across borders. Recent Florida State University graduate Amelia Rivers is advancing that idea in Rionegro, Colombia, where she\u2019s using education and the arts to build intercultural community as a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Fulbright Program is the U.S. government\u2019s premier international exchange initiative designed to foster mutual understanding between U.S. citizens and people around the world. Fulbright U.S. Student Program grant recipients are selected each year for their academic or professional excellence and demonstrated leadership potential in their fields, with the program operating in over 160 countries. The Fulbright English Teaching Assistant (ETA) Award places recipients\u00a0directly in classrooms abroad to assist local English teachers and facilitate intercultural exchange.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cFulbright is an opportunity giver,\u201d she said. \u201cNow that Fulbright has happened, the doors have opened.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Rivers, who earned a master\u2019s degree in musicology from the College of Music<\/a> in 2025, has been teaching English at the Universidad Cat\u00f3lica de Oriente (UCO) since the summer through the ETA. For her, Fulbright offers more than the chance to teach abroad \u2014it\u2019s also an extension of lifelong commitments to global learning and citizenship through music.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI love meeting new people, knowing their stories and sharing my story,\u201d she said. \u201cThe ETA is all about that exchange.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n As the daughter of a pilot, Rivers grew up traveling to places like China, Egypt, New Zealand and Peru with her family \u2014 an experience she refers to affectionately as \u201ccultural whiplash.\u201d She taught her brother how to count on the Great Wall of China and learned how to play guitar from local kids in the Andes Mountains, experiences she said primed her for a future full of global endeavors.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI was able to have those conversations about cultural exchange at a very young age,\u201d she said. \u201cIt really encouraged me to become a cultural ambassador for the United States.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Back in the U.S., Rivers joined a traveling choir, the Spivey Hall Children\u2019s Choir, in middle and high school, blending her love of seeing the world with her passion for music. She once performed in a choir for Pope Francis in Vatican City, an experience that she says was her \u201cwindow to the world.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cChoir has always been a source of community building for me,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n After earning a bachelor\u2019s degree in music arts and English from Mercer University, Rivers decided to blend these interests further and pursue a master\u2019s degree in musicology from FSU\u2019s College of Music.\u00a0<\/p>\n At FSU, Rivers engaged with other cultures through one of the nation\u2019s largest and most comprehensive World Music Ensemble programs,<\/a> where she learned and performed Andean, Brazilian and Balinese Gamelan music traditions. Her master\u2019s thesis focused on the political significance of \u201cjoropo,\u201d a folkloric dance genre native to the llaneros of Colombia and Venezuela.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI wanted to learn more about the music in the world,\u201d she said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n This research brought her to Bogot\u00e1, Colombia, for the first time in 2023, where she visited music libraries, interviewed joropo artists and attended the \u201cJoropo en el Parque\u201d (Joropo in the Park) music festival.<\/p>\n \u201cI fell in love with the culture of hospitality in the community,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Rivers had heard of Fulbright through her grandfather. He studied French medieval literature in Germany in 1962 through the Fulbright U.S. Student Program, an experience that she said changed his career.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve always felt that my grandfather and I had a kindred mind,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n As a Fulbright ETA, Rivers is responsible for hosting presentations and activities, facilitating interactions between students and helping hone their grammar skills. Tailoring her methods toward music, Rivers also plays the piano and sings in a rock band with her students, helping them learn English through songs by bands like Green Day and the Red Hot Chili Peppers.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re playing mostly American rock music because they want to practice their English, and I\u2019m their English teacher,\u201d she said. \u201cThere\u2019s a big rock scene in Colombia.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n At the other end of the exchange, Rivers is learning more about local music from the Colombian community and her peers. She\u2019s joined two choirs during her experience \u2014 \u201cCoro Polif\u00f3nico\u201d (polyphonic choir) at the Universidad Cat\u00f3lica de Oriente and a professional women\u2019s choir called \u201cPolimnia.\u201d Through Coro Polif\u00f3nico, she\u2019s performed at UCO\u2019s cultural festivals and Christmas concert series and has toured across Medell\u00edn and Bogot\u00e1 with Polimnia.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m trying to soak up as much as I can,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s been easy to plug into the local music culture because of the knowledge FSU gave me.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n To bridge the arts with impact, Rivers has additionally been collaborating with the \u201cHurac\u00e1n de Sue\u00f1os\u201d foundation,<\/a> an after-school center that brings classes and activities to vulnerable children in the area. There, she is helping to run a music program and assisting the kids with their English homework.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cMusic is the way that I interact with others in Colombia, because everybody loves music here,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s such an easy and fulfilling starting point for cultural exchange.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Rounding out her role as a cultural ambassador, Rivers is also interning with the U.S. Embassy and Education USA, which helps students in Colombia earn a college education in the U.S.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n While Rivers is not yet sure where her passions will take her following the Fulbright award, she hopes to continue riding the international wave.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve been bitten by the Fulbright bug,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n For now, she believes that Rionegro is where she is \u201cmeant to be.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI feel like I have my dream job in my dream location,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m still trying to convince myself that this is real.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Interested in applying for a Fulbright?\u00a0<\/p>\n Graduate students: Contact Keith McCall, assistant director of the FSU Office of Graduate Fellowships and Awards, at kmccall2@fsu.edu.<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Undergraduates and recent graduates: Contact Bonnie Garcia-Gloeckner, assistant director of the FSU Office of National Fellowships, at bjgarcia@fsu.edu.<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n Faculty: Contact Peggy Wright-Cleveland, director of FSU Faculty Development, at mwrightc@fsu.edu.<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n![\"Amelia](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Amelia-Waterfall.jpg\")
Amelia Rivers, a recent graduate of the College of Music, visiting \u201cLa Cueva del Esplendor,\u201d a waterfall located outside of Jard\u00edn, Colombia. (Amelia Rivers)<\/p>\n![\"Amelia](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Amelia-Andean-ensemble.jpg\")
Amelia Rivers, a recent graduate of the College of Music, with the FSU Andean Ensemble, which performs music from the many traditions of the South American central Andes. (Amelia Rivers)<\/p>\n![\"Amelia](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Amelia-Christmas-Concert.jpg\")
Amelia Rivers, a recent graduate of the College of Music, alongside \u201cCoro Polif\u00f3nico,\u201d UCO\u2019s polyphonic choir, during their Christmas concert series. (Amelia Rivers)<\/p>\n![\"Amelia](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Amelia-with-students.jpg\")
Amelia Rivers, a recent graduate of the College of Music, volunteering with the Hurac\u00e1n de Sue\u00f1os foundation. Led by Patricia Garcia, the foundation provides after-school activities to underprivileged children in the area. (Amelia Rivers)<\/p>\n