KINGSTON, R.I. – Nov. 24, 2025 – Amanda Queiroz fully understands what it takes to learn a new language, and has a passion for helping others. Soon, the University of Rhode Island graduate student from Cromwell, Connecticut, will travel to Uruguay to mentor young students as an English teaching assistant, thanks to a Fulbright fellowship she recently received.
“I’m completely grateful for the opportunity, and I’m so excited to expand my knowledge in Latin America by living there,” Queiroz said. “I’m also excited at the opportunity to challenge myself and my language abilities, and gain true fluency in the language. I really wanted to go to a country that I’ve never been to before to push me out of my comfort zone so I can grow as an individual.”
Queiroz, a language learner herself, got her first taste as a teacher when she recently volunteered as an English teaching assistant for the Dorcas International Institute of Rhode Island in Providence. The institute offers its clients—mostly refugees—adult education, language learning, job training, citizenship and immigration legal services, refugee resettlement, translation and interpreting, clothing and household needs. A URI fellowship program manager suggested to Queiroz that she apply for a Fulbright fellowship considering how much she loved her time volunteering at the institute, Queiroz recalled.
Queiroz feels it’s important for her to understand various cultures so she becomes fully aware of what life is like in other countries. Come March, Queiroz will travel to the South American country just south of Brazil where for eight months she will teach English to students of all ages.
Beyond teaching, Queiroz is also looking forward to experiencing Latin American culture and its traditions, such as soccer and dance—Queiroz is a past co-performance chair advisor for URI Club Dance.
“I just started doing more research into Uruguay, and a part of me started to fall in love with that country and began picturing myself being there,” she said. “Uruguay is known as the Switzerland of Latin America. It has very good human rights records, and was one of the first countries—even before the U.S.—to legalize gay rights. Also, my family is from Portugal, a very small country and, then, I go to school in the smallest state in the U.S. So, it just felt like a perfect connection.”
Queiroz, who is a URI Ryan Scholar, will graduate in December with her Master of Arts in International Relations. She has been part of the University’s Accelerated Bachelor’s to Master’s program, earning her bachelor’s degrees last year in political science and Spanish, with minors in leadership studies and international relations.
Along with her time in URI Club Dance, Queiroz also was a tour guide at URI, showing prospective students around the Kingston Campus. But being part of the Ryan scholarship cohort upon arriving at URI helped Queiroz build lifelong connections, she says.
“Those eight students in our cohort became some of my closest friends,” she said. “Just doing events together with them and the Verrecchia Scholars, it became a community for me here at URI.”
Queiroz wants to work in diplomacy after graduating from URI, but has not yet chosen a specific career. She has a passion for human rights and would love to pursue that work.
“I think expanding myself outside of the U.S. is good to realize that there is more than one way of doing things,” Queiroz said. “I think knowing differences is key in expanding your view of the world and your concept of the world. It just makes you a more worldly person.”
The U.S. Fulbright Student Program is designed to increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries by providing high-achieving students with the opportunity to study or teach abroad.
URI students and recent graduates who are interested in applying to the Fulbright program should contact the URI Office of National Fellowships and Academic Opportunities for guidance.