Three Carleton seniors selected for Austrian Fulbright Commission U.S. Teaching Assistantships

Three members of the Carleton Class of 2025 — Katie O’Leary, Sammie Ulicny, and Micah Day-O’Connell — were selected this year for the Austrian Fulbright Commission’s U.S. Teaching Assistantship awards. The program brings native English speakers to Austrian secondary schools and aims to foster interest in other cultures through cross-cultural dialogue.

Katie O’Leary ’25

O’Leary will be working as an English teaching assistant at two secondary schools in Eisenstadt, Burgenland, near the Austrian border with Slovakia and Hungary. 

She is familiar with living and working abroad, as she studied in Berlin the fall of her sophomore year and conducted independent research for her German comps in Berlin last summer. An externship at a high school in St. Paul also prepared her to work with secondary school students and English learners. 

“I’m excited to explore a new place in the German-speaking world,” O’Leary said. “I’m looking forward to living in Austria — I love walkable cities and public transportation. Most of my experiences abroad and teaching experiences have been short-term, so I’m very excited to experience a full year of living abroad and making connections with my students.” 

“I’m definitely interested in teaching and continuing with my study of German,” she added, “so this program will be a great learning opportunity moving forward.” 

Sammie Ulicny ’25

Ulicny will be an English teaching assistant at two small secondary schools in Fürstenfeld, Styria in Austria. Her work will involve teaching lessons that speak to American cultural use of the English language, contributing to cultural exchange about the places people come from.

Ulicny is excited to live in Austria and get to know the tight-knit community of the smaller village where she’ll be teaching. She’s also excited to learn the particular dialect of the region, which differs from the standard German she was taught. 

“My time in Vienna for Carleton off-campus studies was particularly helpful in learning about Austrian political and cultural history,” Ulicny said. “German programs can sometimes be Germany-centric; at Carleton, I’ve been very pleased to learn in and about many different German-speaking countries, including Austria and Switzerland.”

“I hope to work in international diplomacy and believe vibrant cultural exchange on people-to-people levels is critical,” Ulicny added. “I’m so excited to fuse my love of language education with cultural education and exchange.”

Micah Day-O’Connell ’25

Day-O’Connell will be teaching English at two high schools in Wiener Neustadt, Austria.

He lived in Germany for a year in high school and is excited to sharpen his language skills while in Austria. 

“I’m thinking about teaching in the future, and I thought Fulbright Austria was a great way for me to go abroad, get my German skills back up, and get some experience in the classroom,” said Day-O’Connell. 

“If I end up working or studying in Europe at any time in the future, I think this program will be really valuable for giving me a network and acclimating me to living abroad,” he added. 

Day-O’Connell is excited about the upcoming opportunities both in and out of the classroom. 

“I’m really excited to hike and travel around the area, and I’m super lucky to be so close to Vienna,” he said. “In the classroom, I’m excited to get to know my students, what makes them curious, and how they see the world!” 

O’Leary, Ulicny, and Day-O’Connell thank Carleton’s German department for their support through the application process, including Juliane Schicker, associate professor of German and department chair; Seth Peabody, assistant professor of German; Kiley Kost, lecturer in German; and Chloe Vaughn, visiting assistant professor of German.

“Our students are incredible human beings and well-deserving of these awards,” said Schicker. “Their subject knowledge, language, and intercultural and communicative skills are outstanding.”

Many students who apply for or are awarded the USTA also draw on applications for the Fulbright U.S. Student Program, handled by the Office of Student Fellowships. Students interested in similar opportunities should contact the office for support and assistance.