Allison Hafner, Anna Shepard, %20high.jpg)
Bianca McNeely, Bree Patzke, and Emma Holdren are alumni of the Fulbright ETA Program. During the past academic year, they taught at High School Kaplice, Gymnázium and Nursing School in Vyškov, Gymnázium Lesní čtvrť in Zlín, the Engineering High School and Business Academy in Bruntál, and Gymnázium Sušice. Each host school and town offered a unique experience, but throughout their grants, they all found themselves asking the same question: How can they meaningfully contribute to the relationship between the United States and the Czech Republic and, in doing so, fulfill the Fulbright mission of serving as so-called citizen diplomats?
%20high.jpg)
In mid-April, the five alumni represented the Czech Fulbright Commission at the ETA Enrichment Seminar, Bridging the Atlantic: 250 Years of Diplomacy and Shared Prosperity, in Bratislava. Hosted by the Slovak Fulbright Commission, the three-day seminar brought together ETAs from across the region for thoughtful discussions, reflection, and the exchange of ideas. By the end of the seminar, the original question had become much clearer. Citizen diplomats cannot represent every facet of the United States. What they can do is introduce their home country through their everyday interactions by being present, authentic, curious, and open to learning from others. In doing so, they remind the people they meet that no country can be defined by a single story, only by the richness and diversity of human experience.
As Fulbright ETAs in the Czech Republic, there are opportunities to engage in Enrichment Seminars across Europe throughout the grant. A group of five ETAs were selected from our cohort to attend a seminar in Bratislava, Slovakia in mid-April. The conference was titled Bridging the Atlantic: 250 Years of Diplomacy and Shared Prosperity. This seminar was a celebration of Freedom 250 and 80 years of the Fulbright Program. We heard from several speakers, including Ambassadors from the Slovak Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Slovak Ministry of Education, the American Chamber of Commerce, the U.S. Department of State, and diplomats from the U.S. Embassy in Bratislava. The panel discussions focused on a variety of topics, such as U.S.-Slovak relations, American ingenuity and entrepreneurship, challenges of the digital age, and public diplomacy. This seminar brought together ETAs from 13 countries, and we were able to engage in meaningful conversations regarding our experiences as citizen ambassadors of our home country. We put the lessons on public diplomacy into action as we participated in a group exercise designing an outreach program to promote the Freedom 250 celebration in our host countries, which allowed for collaboration and cultural exchange. We used our diverse experiences as ETAs across Europe to create unique programming catered towards young people and presented our ideas to foreign service officers from the U.S. Embassy in Bratislava. Our event concluded with a reception at the Ambassador’s Residence where we were able to reflect on the panel discussions, which provided wonderful insight into the world of foreign service.
Photo: All of the conference participants — Fulbright ETAs from 13 countries!
It was insightful to meet and get to know ETAs placed in other European countries and hear about their experiences. Despite a wide range of placement situations across many countries, we all found some commonalities about what it means to be representing the United States abroad. We were able to pair these more informal discussions and connections with the engaging sessions and panels on the topics of diplomacy. This conference allowed us to reflect on how our experiences in our small Czech towns are a part of something greater. We were able to place this experience into a different, wider perspective. We got to see how our connections with our communities and individual colleagues and students contribute to a wider effort to bring people together and build mutual understanding.
As Fulbright ETAs, from the very beginning we are told that we are acting as "citizen diplomats." Initially, that can seem like a daunting title to hold. Diplomacy is often framed as something that happens around large conference tables, where experienced officials negotiate complex international issues and shape foreign policy. It can feel far removed from the everyday work of teaching English in a Czech classroom, planning lessons, or chatting with colleagues over coffee.
Over the course of our time in the Czech Republic, we often found ourselves asking what we could meaningfully contribute not only to our schools and local communities, but also to the broader relationship between the United States and the Czech Republic. At the same time, we carried the quiet pressure of representing a country of more than 340 million people, one whose diversity of cultures, identities, experiences, and perspectives defies easy explanation. No single person can accurately capture what it means to be "American," yet that is often the role we are asked to fill.
While our time in Bratislava included discussions on the broader issues shaping the transatlantic relationship, from public diplomacy and entrepreneurship to the evolving challenges of the digital age, we also spent a great deal of time reflecting on what our own roles as ETAs and citizen diplomats actually mean. Those conversations encouraged us to think beyond diplomacy as something practiced only by ambassadors or government officials. Instead, they challenged us to consider how trust, mutual respect, and international partnerships are often built through something much simpler: genuine human connection, curiosity, and honesty.
.jpg)
Photo: Allison Hafner presents her group’s “American Summer Camp” embassy cultural outreach proposal, April 16, 2026.
That perspective resonated with ETA participants from across Europe because it reflected so much of our own experience over the past year. Though we are all placed in communities with different histories, challenges, and identities, we share the experience of being one of the few Americans our students and colleagues know personally. Long before they encounter official statements or foreign policy, they encounter us. Through our classrooms, extracurricular activities, and everyday conversations, we become a window into American life; not because we have all the answers, but because we are willing to share our own experiences while remaining equally open to learning from theirs.
For many people in our communities, we serve as “the American” who they can turn to get the definitive answer to all of their broad questions. What do Americans eat for breakfast? Why do Americans drive everywhere? Why do all Americans wear shoes inside? Over time, we've come to realize that perhaps the most authentic answer we can give is simply “it depends.” A country as large and diverse as the United States cannot be reduced to a single perspective or experience, and one of the greatest privileges of serving as ETAs is being able to share that complexity with our students and communities.
Sometimes that means helping students think critically about information they encounter through social media or challenging assumptions formed from movies and headlines. Other times, it means having thoughtful conversations with colleagues about our history, our education system, or the issues currently shaping American society. Just as often, diplomacy happens through moments that feel much smaller: introducing students to our favorite college football team (Roll Tide!), explaining the Butterball Turkey Thanksgiving hotline, sharing photos from a favorite national park, or laughing together as we realize that some of the traditions we grew up with seem a little unusual when viewed from another perspective. These conversations, both the serious and the lighthearted, remind us that understanding another country begins not with sweeping generalizations, but with the willingness to embrace its complexity.
The enrichment seminar in Bratislava came at the perfect time. With only two months left in the grant, dedicated time to reflect on the power of diplomacy and dialogue with ETAs from across Europe reinvigorated us, reminding us of our purpose in the Czech Republic. Though we have now left the Czech Republic, we carry back to our communities the lesson that diplomacy is practiced every day through conversation and dialogue.
.jpg)