OCTOBER 30, 2008 issue
Hardin Park Principal Mary Smalling Chosen for Fulbright Exchange Program
Hardin Park School Principal Mary Smalling has been awarded a Fulbright Administrator Exchange Grant for a school administrator exchange with a school in Argentina similar to Hardin Park. Miriram Presti, Second Director of Gregoria Perez de Denis #136 in Santa Fe, Argentina, arrived in Boone this week to begin three weeks working with Smalling at Hardin Park. Smalling will visit Santa Fe for three weeks in July to work with Presti.
Smalling said, “It is exciting and an honor to be selected for this award. I’m enjoying the experience of working with Ms. Presti and I am looking forward to sharing time with her in Argentina this summer.”
The Fulbright Program, sponsored by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the United States Department of State, is the most prominent and prestigious educational exchange program in the country. Recipients of Fulbright awards are chosen on the basis of academic or professional excellence and demonstrated leadership potential. Smalling is one of approximately 450 U.S. citizens selected for the Fulbright Exchange Program for 2008-09.
Since 1946 when the Fulbright Program was established, 108,160 Americans and 178,340 citizens from more than 150 other countries have participated in these international exchanges. The program gives participants the opportunity to observe and better understand each other’s educational system and culture, and facilitates the exchange of information and ideas on educational issues of mutual interest.
Smalling has been principal at Hardin Park for nine years and was the Wachovia Principal of the Year for the Watauga County Schools in 2005-06. She served as an assistant principal at Hardin Park and at Watauga High School before becoming principal at Hardin Park. She received both her bachelor’s degree and her master’s degree from Appalachian State University.
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