Bethany Cummings, who earned her BA in Italian Studies and Sociology from the University of Notre Dame in 2023, has received a Fulbright Award, which will allow her to pursue a Masters of Science in Product, System, and Service Design at the Politecnico di Milano in 2024. Bethany, who is currently completing the MA in Education, Knowledge, Power and Politics at the University of Cambridge, looks forward to her upcoming move from England to Italy. In Milan, she will begin a program that she first learned about when she studied abroad in Rome during her junior year of college. As part of Notre Dame's Rome International Scholars program, Bethany had the opportunity to intern in the Rome offices of the European design firm Sketchin. It was here that Bethany first began to explore the possibility of studying design in Italy, which she will now do through her attainment of the Fulbright award, which extends for the duration of the two-year program at the Politecnico. After completion of the Milan-based course, Bethany seeks to enter a career in Service Design, focusing on nonprofit, educational, and governmental services as informed by her current Cambridge MA. Bethany tells us that she has felt inspired and prepared to continue her education in Italy through the guidance and encouragement of mentors in the Italian department, such as Kathleen Boyle (Teaching Professor of Italian) and Charles Leavitt (Associate Professor of Italian and Film), who push their students to see the true power of a degree in Italian Studies.