Hannah Fluhler graduated from Ball State with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing and Integrated Studies. She is now a registered nurse and a U.S. Fulbright Future Scholar to Australia. 

How did you get involved in the Honors college?

When I was at Ball State, I studied nursing and integrated studies (pre-dance/movement therapy). I also took all of the pre-medical courses. I got involved with the Honors College because I wanted to balance my science-heavy coursework with the humanities. Little did I know when I applied, I would also receive a full ride scholarship to Ball State through the Honors College called the Whitinger Scholarship.

What were your most memorable Honors experiences and classes?

 My most memorable Honors experience includes the time I spent in the late Dean Jim Ruebel’s Integrated Humanities course freshman year, indulging in his favorite cities: Rome and Florence, Italy, with the Daltons. He was quite the man, I know those of us who were fortunate enough to know him and take classes from him miss him greatly.

What did you do after graduating?  What do you do now? 

After graduation in May of 2015, I moved to Melbourne, Australia, thanks to a Fulbright Future Scholarship for 2020. I spent seven months working on a biomedical laboratory project into a rare disease called Fanconi Anemia and its connection to cancer at St. Vincent’s Institute of Medical Research in the Genome Stability Unit.

Now, I will be working as a registered nurse in a neonatal intensive care unit.

How did being in the Honors College affect you personally and professionally after graduation? 

Being in the Honors College is the reason for so many aspects of who I am and what I have done, both personally and professionally. This includes the support I received to create my own integrated studies major for pre-dance/movement therapy and applying for three major national and international scholarships and fellowships before finally earning a Fulbright grant. I am forever indebted to the scholarship donors from the University who made some of the best four years of my life a possibility.

 

You can follow Hannah on her Fulbright journey through her blog, Roots and Wings.