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Kelly Fritzsche has been selected as one of the five finalists for the Fall 2021 Alumni Association Outstanding Master’s Graduate Award. She was nominated for the award by the Department of English in the College of Liberal Arts.

Fritzsche will be recognized during the Graduate School Commencement ceremony on Friday, where she will receive a master of arts degree in English with a concentration in TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages).

She “has proven herself to be collegial and engaged with the diverse student population of the TESOL concentration, which includes people from many different cultural and linguistic and ideological backgrounds,” notes Dr. Mark Honegger, professor of linguistics and head of the department of English.

Fritzsche earned a bachelor’s degree in English and education from Rowan University in New Jersey before coming to UL Lafayette to pursue graduate studies.

While completing her master’s degree, she has gained extensive experience in her field by working with nonprofits. The teaching experience she has gained through her TESOL Practicum capstone course has allowed her to apply her studies to help others.

Through the International Rescue Committee, Fritzsche has conducted beginning English language classes for a couple from El Salvador. “Drawing on her own facility in Spanish, she was able to do a needs assessment and so tailor her online instruction to their specific needs,” Honegger says.

Fritzsche has also worked with the VITA program, a nonprofit adult literacy education center here in Lafayette. “This is a subpopulation in the midst of our society who don’t have a voice because they are very limited by their lack of English skills, and her work here is the kind of endeavor that changes a person’s life forever,” Honegger says.

While at UL Lafayette, Fritzsche served as a graduate assistant for the Student Technology Enhancement Program (STEP). She was also a copyeditor for , a graduate-run literary journal housed in the English department.

Last spring, she served as a consultant for the United Way of Acadiana/Lafayette Education Foundation Teacher Awards, evaluating nominations.

Going forward, Fritzsche plans to embark on a career serving others through nonprofits, “helping members of the community find resources to live better lives and to help them to feel supported, safe, and welcome where they live,” she says.

“My current community service is focused in education and refugee resettlement services, and I would love to continue that service in the Lafayette community or in other cities across the country.”