Nestled in between its two Baltic sisters, Latvia is home to just under two million individuals proud of their culture. Next year, their numbers will grow by at least one more, as a Wabash man, also infatuated with the culture, will be joining them.
Hayden Kammer ’24 earned a prestigious Fulbright Award, one of the most recognizable post-graduate awards in the nation. Kammer is the 27th Wabash student to win a Fulbright in the past 10 years and is the only Wabash student to win one this year.
The Fulbright commission gives out around 2,200 Fulbright awards to U.S. students each year who will embark on year-long projects abroad to institutions abroad in around 150 countries. Some of those awards are Teaching Assistant Awards, given to students teaching English abroad to non-native speakers, and others are Research/Study Awards, given to students pursuing an advanced degree or completing a research or creative arts project abroad. Kammer won a Study Award and will enter a two-year program at the Baltic International Academy in Riga, Latvia where he will study for a Professional Masters of Psychology.
Kammer fell in love with the Baltics, and Latvia in particular, during a Glee Club trip to Europe last summer. Ice hockey games, learning and sharing music with locals and stunning church architecture were some features of Latvian culture that Kammer loved. The experiences he had in Latvia helped inspire him to find a way back to Europe through Fulbright.
“I fell in love with it,” Kammer said. “Just being able to go there, experience the culture and go to bars and concerts and churches, just to see the whole perspective. It was really interesting.”
Finding a country that he had prior experience with helped Kammer forge a compelling and thorough application, said Wabash Fellowship Advisor Susan Albrecht.
“Hayden chose an award in a country that made sense for him,” said Albrecht. “He chose a country that he had visited on the Glee Club trip last spring, and doing that meant he could talk with a bit of knowledge about aspects of their culture and history that he was interested in and would be able to engage in as a Fulbright — such as Latvian singing groups.”
Kammer entered Wabash planning to major in theater, but after seeing the relative instability of some theater-related jobs post COVID-19, he decided to switch to another one of his interests: psychology. Kammer knew that he wanted to practice psychology, but his time at Wabash helped inspire a more specific goal, one that he articulated while processing how to formulate his Fulbright application.
“My big goal is to establish men’s centers on college campuses,” said Kammer. “There are women’s centers that work with women’s issues, support groups and all that, but we don’t have many men’s centers. I’d love to work to establish those, especially as male graduation rates are declining and we’re seeing fewer men in schools.”
Kammer’s passion for men’s mental health was another way he could connect with the Latvian professionals who interviewed him, who also believe there should be more of an emphasis on men’s mental health and its treatment. That passion is evident to those who interact with him.
“If you know Hayden, you know that [men’s mental health] matters a lot to him, especially coming from an all-male college,” said Albrecht. “He was able to clearly articulate why it’s important to him to focus on men’s mental health in particular.”
Even if he hadn’t ended up winning, Kammer said, the work he put into his application would have been worth it all the same. He unearthed his desire to work in men’s mental health, and he did that by working with Albrect and answering tough questions. After many late nights and lots of work, he’s happy it worked out.
“I’m most proud that all of the work that I’ve put into it has finally paid off,” said Kammer.