Four HPU Alumni Awarded Assistantships to Teach English in Spain

HIGH POINT, N.C., June 19, 2025 – Four High Point University graduates will teach English in Spain during the 2025-2026 academic year through the North American Language and Culture Assistant Program (NALCAP). Nigel Debrito, Jack Fobert, Cora Hicks and Avery Sistare will serve as American cultural ambassadors while immersing themselves in the Spanish culture.

“The Spanish program is incredibly proud of these students for their acceptance into NALCAP,” said Dr. Adam Winkel, associate professor of Spanish. “These students have taken the bold step of challenging themselves as they enter a new life in various parts of Spain. It takes a lot of courage to leave their families and their familiar surroundings and travel to another country, where they will share the culture and values that they have developed at HPU. They are prepared to represent HPU and the United States as language assistants in Spain.”

Debrito, an Honors scholar from Farmington, Connecticut, earned his bachelor’s degree in exercise science from HPU in 2023. Hicks, an Honors scholar from Raleigh, North Carolina, graduated in 2024 with a bachelor’s degree in English and psychology.

Fobert and Sistare are members of the Class of 2025. Fobert, a native of Winthrop, Massachusetts, was a double major in Spanish and mathematics. Sistare, from Apex, North Carolina, earned a Bachelor of Arts in Spanish and hospitality management.

Fobert said his passion for education began when he started a Spanish language-immersion program at D-Up, Inc., a local afterschool nonprofit.

“I’m most excited to continue engaging with Spanish while teaching,” he said. “Finding a program that allowed me to continue doing these things after graduation was such a great opportunity. The NALCAP was a logical next step.”

Sistare said she plans to take flamenco lessons during her placement in southern Spain.

“I am most excited to discover something new every day and use the Spanish language skills I have developed over my four years at HPU,” she said.

Offered through the Education Office of the Embassy of Spain, the NALCAP places American college students in elementary and secondary schools across Spain to teach English and act as American cultural ambassadors. Each year, NALCAP offers teaching assistantships from Oct. 1 to May 31. HPU students interested in applying should contact Dr. James Cotton, an assistant professor of English and director of Fellowships and Awards, in the Office of National Fellowships and Awards.