BRASHER FALLS -- Shane Fuentes of Brasher Falls, a senior biochemistry major at Nazareth College, will delay the start of his graduate studies for a year to travel to Taiwan to teach English as a Fulbright Scholar before he enters the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry.

"The U of R allowed me to defer my acceptance for a year so that I can pursue the Fulbright year first," said Fuentes in a press release from Nazareth College.

After he graduated in 2014 from St. Lawrence Central High School, he said, “I was searching for a passion in something other than high school sports. I quickly discovered how teaching, learning about different cultures, and traveling could fulfill that desire.” During his time at Nazareth, Fuentes has had two opportunities to teach English overseas. One was a summer internship and study abroad in Chile in summer 2016, where he performed chemistry research, observed physicians, and was an English teaching assistant at the Universidad de Concepcion. A few months later, he co-led a service trip with other Nazareth students to Nicaragua, where they did light carpentry work and offered English lessons to elementary students.

"Growing up in a bilingual household, I was able to utilize my language skills to connect with my Spanish-speaking students in Chile and Nicaragua," said Fuentes.

Those experiences were so valuable to him that the U of R agreed to delay his entry into medical school there for a year.

Fuentes said he would like to create a non-competitive basketball club when he travels to Taiwan on his Fulbright.

"Basketball has long been an enjoyable activity in my life, and creating a basketball club would allow the students and members of the community to learn a new sport or improve their skills while engaging in exercise, teamwork, and conversational English,” Fuentes said.

Established in 1946 under legislation introduced by the late Senator J. William Fulbright of Arkansas, the Fulbright Program's objective is to build mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the rest of the world. Sponsored by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, the Fulbright Program is America's flagship international education exchange. Almost 280,000 “Fulbrights," 105,400 from the United States and 174,100 from other countries, have participated in the program.