W&L’s Celeste Álvarez ’26 Selected for Fulbright to Guatemala Álvarez looks forward to immersing herself in a different culture with the Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship and will attend W&L Law when she returns, with plans to become an immigration lawyer.

By Emily Innes Stanley
May 8, 2026

Washington and Lee University senior Celeste Álvarez ’26 has been awarded a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship (ETA) to teach English in Guatemala. At W&L, Álvarez is a sociology and anthropology major with minors in art history and Latin American and Caribbean Studies. Álvarez is a native of Hereford, Texas, and graduated from Hereford High School.

The ETA program in Guatemala allows participants to assist teaching staff at the university level. Responsibilities include presenting on different topics related to the United States, preparing classroom activities and leading conversation groups. Assistants will also pursue an independent research, study or volunteer project that encourages engagement with the local community.

An aspiring immigration lawyer, Álvarez is looking forward to immersing herself in a different country and culture and engaging with local organizations that support immigrants and communities abroad. She views the ETA as an important step in building humanitarian, linguistic and cultural foundations in her personal and professional life.

“This is an incredible opportunity to serve as a cultural ambassador and gain global competence before I start law school and pursue a legal career,” said Álvarez, who also received a Gilman Scholarship in 2023 to study Latin American immigration in Mexico. “I am looking forward to engaging with the local community and building reciprocal relationships that foster cross-cultural exchange. I am excited to embark on this journey and make the most of it.”

Álvarez credits her undergraduate volunteer experiences with guiding her decision to pursue an ETA in Guatemala. Beginning in the fall of her first year at W&L, she has taught Spanish through the Languages for Rockbridge program, which she says has helped her develop the confidence and skills necessary to teach a foreign language to students of all ages. Through English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL), she volunteers as an interpreter and translator for the W&L School of Law’s immigrant rights clinic, which initially sparked her interest in immigration law. This interest has been further confirmed by her remote internship with Kivu Immigration Law, a Minnesota-based firm she has worked with the past two years. This opportunity has allowed Álvarez to immerse herself in the field of immigration law, and she has begun learning K’iche’ (an indigenous Mayan language widely spoken in Guatemala) in addition to Spanish to ensure she can provide legal services in the clients’ predominant language.

In addition to her volunteer work, Álvarez is involved with W&L’s Native American Student Organization and Comunidad Latina Estudiantil. She is also a community assistant for Casa Hispánica through the Office of Housing and Residence Life and a technology specialist at the Global Discovery Laboratories (GDL).

Álvarez is grateful to the W&L faculty members who have supported her both personally and professionally, including Dick Kuettner, director of GDL, Andrea Lepage, the Pamela H. Simpson Professor of Art History, and Marcos Perez, associate professor of sociology, who fostered her interest in Latin American culture, as well as language learning and teaching. She also appreciates the mentorship of Paul Youngman, dean of the College and professor of German, who supported her study of Ki’che’ in Guatemala.

“Celeste exemplifies the best qualities in our student body: hard-working, insightful and committed,” said Perez, with whom Álvarez has worked as a research assistant. “Her intelligence and dedication and her initiative and genuine concern for others will serve her well in her career. I am proud to have worked with her during her time at W&L and look forward to her future achievements.”

With the Fulbright award, Álvarez will depart in January 2027 for her 10-month program. Álvarez has been granted deferred admission to W&L School of Law to pursue the ETA and will begin law school as a “double General” upon completion of the program.

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Washington and Lee University is proud to be included on the list of U.S. colleges and universities that produced the most 2025-2026 Fulbright U.S. Students for the eighth consecutive year.

The Fulbright Program was established more than 75 years ago to increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries. For more information, visit https://fulbrightprogram.org/. W&L students interested in applying for the Fulbright U.S. Student Program should contact Matthew Loar in the Houston H. Harte Center for Teaching and Learning (Leyburn 114) or by email at mloar@wlu.edu.

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