And soon, Ard will be headed for a prestigious medical school with the goal of becoming a doctor. He's already been accepted to the Washington University School of Medicine and the Mayo Medical School.

But first, he's going to get a little bit of traveling, sightseeing and teaching in. Ard received one of approximately 90 Fulbright Teaching Scholarships to teach in Germany next year.

The Fulbright Program, established in 1946 by the U.S. Congress under the sponsorship of Sen. J. William Fulbright, D-Ark., annually awards grants for study, teaching, lecture and research.

"I'm not planning on becoming a teacher," Ard said. "I want to be a doctor and will be going to medical school, but I've always been interested in teaching and have been a teaching assistant for several courses here while I've been a student. I thought it would be an interesting thing to do for a year between my undergraduate years and medical school.

"I've always been interested in language, and I'm a German major, so I thought that teaching in a foreign language would be a good experience for me. Also, since physicians have the role of educator and have to explain things to patients, I thought it would be good preparation for my career."

Ard knows he'll be teaching English and American studies in a German high school, but he just isn't sure where exactly that high school will be other than it will be in the German state of Saxony.

But that doesn't matter.