International Education Group Chooses CIP Leader as Conference Chair

A global nonprofit association of more than 10,000 members dedicated to international education and exchange recognized Kalamazoo College Center for International Programs (CIP) Executive Director Margaret Wiedenhoeft by naming her its 2023 conference chair.

Coinciding with the organization’s 75th anniversary, the NAFSA: Association of International Educators Conference and Expo—held May 30–June 2 in Washington, D.C.—united its community to reflect, celebrate, inspire and create through shared lessons, diverse perspectives and innovative approaches; explore trends in professional development and career advancement; and emphasize the need for inclusive global communities in higher education.

As the NAFSA conference chair, Wiedenhoeft worked with the annual conference committee to develop a call for proposals, recruit reviewers for those proposals, and decide who was invited to present, while crafting the conference theme, brainstorming the kinds of sessions they wanted, and reaching out to promote the gathering to prospective first-time attendees.

“I had never been a part of a conference that had 10,000 attendees,” Wiedenhoeft said. “It was exciting and an interesting behind-the-scenes look. One thing I was surprised about was that as the conference chair, I was asked to be in a lot of pictures with many delegations from outside the United States. It was a lot of fun and a great way to get to know people and hear about why they traveled. It was a great way to build relationships.”

Ultimately, much of the event focused on NAFSA’s milestone anniversary and how the world continues to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic through issues such as international student recruitment, VISA accessibility, and the funding available for first-generation students who want to study abroad.

“There was a lot of discussion about the kinds of advocacy work we can do at the national and state levels to help decision makers and institutions understand the impact that funding international education initiatives can have beyond our campuses,” Wiedenhoeft said. “We also discussed the political climate, especially with certain states censoring DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) initiatives and censuring students that come from certain countries, so we can be ready to respond and advocate.”

Kalamazoo College Center for International Programs Executive Director Margaret Wiedenhoeft meets Indiana University's Jenny Bowen at international education conference
Kalamazoo College Center for International Programs Executive Director Margaret Wiedenhoeft (left) meets Indiana University’s Jenny Bowen at the NAFSA: Association of International Educators Conference and Expo in Washington, D.C. Wiedenhoeft served as the conference chair in 2023. Bowen will serve in the same role in 2024.

In a separate opportunity, Wiedenhoeft also presented at a Michigan Independent Colleges and Universities (MICU) conference in October to address how institutions think about security for students when they travel off campus, particularly to environments or places not geographically connected to it. The gathering wasn’t only for international educators, but for all educators to think about safety.

“It was a great conversation,” she said. “It reminded me that there are resources on our own campus and folks who think about student safety all the time with safety being a goal for all of us. I’m always happy to share what I’ve learned and to contextualize it for folks who may be thinking about starting programs or thinking about particular risks that they’re concerned about in certain places. I always say the riskiest place is ignorance, so it’s important to help folks know what they need to understand about where students go to live and study.”

Wiedenhoeft began working for K in 2000 and has served as the CIP’s executive director since 2017. In that department, she structures and oversees its operations, policies and practices including study abroad, domestic study away and international student support while collaborating with partners overseas, students, and faculty to ensure programs are financially accessible, sustainable, and connected to life and study at K.

She applauds K administrators, students, faculty and staff for making that work possible as the College has become a standard bearer for study abroad, international education and international programs. K offers 53 study abroad opportunities that vary from one to three terms in 33 countries.

“I could not do this work without the support of the Provost and President, and from my wonderful colleagues in the CIP—Sally, Asia, Alayna, Abosede, NaShera, Colin and Lizbeth,” Wiedenhoeft said. “I will show up anywhere and everywhere to promote Kalamazoo College.”

‘We Have Stars in Our Eyes:’ International Student Reflects on Year at K

International student Claudia Klos studies on the Quad in fall
Claudia Klos prepares French labs in front of DeWaters Hall in October 2022. She said Kalamazoo had the most beautiful autumn colors she had ever seen.
International student Claudia Klos in an inflatable pretzel
Claudia Klos (right) with international student and German TA Olivia Machnik at a German department event in May 2023.
International student Claudia Klos surrounded by snow at Kalamazoo College
“I adored the snow,” said Claudia Klos, a student at Sciences Po Strasbourg who spent the 2022-23 academic year at Kalamazoo College.

When Claudia Klos left France for Kalamazoo College in fall 2022, she was afraid she would be homesick for her parents. 

Now, in summer 2023, she has the opposite problem. 

“Life got so busy at K, that this void which is created when we leave our home is immediately filled with new discoveries, new people, new friendships, new places and new activities,” Klos said. “Kalamazoo was a great place for me to fill this void from home, so much that now that I’m back home, I feel this void again—a new kind of void that was created when I left K.” 

Klos came to Kalamazoo via Sciences Po Strasbourg, which she chose for the same reasons many students choose K: an emphasis on multidisciplinary studies and spending time abroad—a mandatory experience for Sciences Po Strasbourg students. 

Born and raised in the western suburbs of Paris with Polish heritage, Klos had never thought she would study in the U.S. due to the distance and expense. When she learned about the opportunity to study at K and work as a French teaching assistant, however, she immediately wanted to go. 

“I’ve always loved languages and I really thought it would be a great experience for me,” Klos said. “I think that giving myself some responsibilities would do me only good. I wanted to challenge myself. The financial benefits of being a TA were obviously part of the decision, too.” 

Along with two other students from France who worked as TAs at K over the past academic year, Klos had the opportunity before coming to Kalamazoo to meet with Asia Bennett, assistant director and exchange student advisor with the Center for International Programs (CIP), as well as K students who were studying abroad in Strasbourg. 

“It was very nice meeting them and knowing that we would see each other on the other side of the Earth a little bit later,” Klos said. “The CIP does amazing work. I felt very listened to, they have very fast answers to your questions, and every step was made clear.” 

Before she arrived in Kalamazoo on her 21st birthday in September 2022, Klos was hoping that the French classes for which she was a TA would go smoothly. 

“I was also hoping for a year of discoveries,” she said. “It’s a once-in-a-lifetime adventure so we better not waste it. Those discoveries came with traveling, meeting people and sharing the lives of people we encounter on the other side of the planet, and discovering the life of the student in America to be able to compare it to the life of European students. I was hoping to live this amazing, once-in-a-lifetime experience to the fullest.” 

Three students giving thumbs up on campus
Visiting international students and French TAs Gabin Wagner, Louis Landreau and Claudia Klos enjoy some sunshine while studying in May 2023.
International students make hearts with hand gestures at Hicks Student Center
Visiting international students and language TAs Lena Horl, Gabin Wagner and Claudia Klos commemorate the November 11, 1918, signing of the armistice between the Allies of World War I and Germany. Horl is from Germany, while Wagner is from the Alsace-Lorraine region of France, which was controlled by Germany during World War I, and Klos is from France with family roots in Poland, which observes National Independence Day on November 11.
Students dressed up for Monte Carlo
Dressed up for Monte Carlo in May 2023 are (from left) Lorena Velasco Navarro, Louis Landreau, Gabriela Perez Chapado, Gabin Wagner, Clara Salomon, Laura Reinaux and Claudia Klos.

Her first impressions were that K was charming and very green. She loved the beauty, comfort, common spaces and fireplaces in her dorm, Harmon Hall, and in the library. 

Klos appreciated the chance to speak English in everyday life and experience American student life, which she found different in many ways. She was surprised by how students were encouraged to participate in sports and the arts. In addition to attending concerts and shows, Klos participated in intramural volleyball. 

“This year made me want to engage myself in some team sports,” she said. “The energy it had at K was amazing and that is something I will remember.” 

The residential campus offered another difference from Klos’ life as a student in France, where she had attended a rigorous prep school that demanded the majority of her time and energy. 

“My social life had never been as rich as at K, where we were always around people,” Klos said. “We were with people in class and out every day, and actually, I didn’t get tired of it. People talk about social batteries lowering down, which I understand, but I was surprised with not having this problem and being happy to always be around people.” 

The close relationships engendered by the residential campus helped Klos learn about herself, grow personally, and develop a more balanced approach to school, rest and life.  

“Since I knew that my time at K was limited, the fact that the experience was evanescent made it precious,” she said. “I learned to find a balance because I never thought about doing so before in my life. Before, the academic part always dominated, whereas here, the social dimension of the experience dominated, too, so I needed to manage both. We would have study sessions in the DeWaters Hall basement, and nobody would really advance in book work. Everybody would chat and laugh, and we would say, ‘No, we’re not studying, we’re creating memories!’ This is something we would say ironically, but it was still accurate, and that’s something important I learned from this year thanks to friendships.” 

When interpersonal conflicts or difficulties arose, Klos reminded herself that they wouldn’t last long. 

“I would think about how lucky I am to be finding myself so far away from home with amazing people in an amazing place,” she said. “In January, I was feeling down, so I started making a list of things I am grateful for. Before sleeping, I would write down something nice that happened each day, even if it was something little. It contributed to making me remember how amazing this experience was despite having troubles.” 

Three students attending a tennis match
Visiting international student Claudia Klos (left), who came to K from France and whose family is Polish, watches Hornet tennis in April 2023 with Kinga Fraczkiewicz ’26, who is from Scotland and Poland, and visiting international student Olivia Machnik, who is from Germany and Poland.

One of those concerns was the consumption of resources she saw in the U.S. 

“I had a problem with the air conditioning,” Klos said. “I thought that it was a waste of energy, of CO2 emissions. Also, the fact that the lights were on all the time stuck with me. I noticed contrasting details of everyday life between the U.S. and Europe; for example, there is so much water in the bowl of the toilets. They still give plastic bags everywhere. I’m trying to understand all the differences and I see how American culture assures abundance and emphasizes comfort rather than resources.” 

While Klos enjoyed all her classes, especially political science, she was initially caught off guard by the differences between college courses in France and Kalamazoo. 

“In the fall term, I was there with my computer ready to be tapping and tapping and tapping, because that is how we do that in European universities,” Klos said. “That was not the case at all. We had a teacher that asked us questions, we’re doing exercises together; it’s not just the teacher giving us this material and us absorbing it. I wasn’t aware that I was supposed to do all these readings for every class, I didn’t even know that there was a syllabus, it was very confusing. But then in spring, I was prepared, and I knew how things worked. Then I really liked this approach of us doing readings, so accumulating some knowledge, and then being able to reflect over that with the professor making the lecture but also having class discussions with us.” 

She particularly appreciated how language classes are taught at K (Klos took German in addition to being a TA for French), and the relationships between students and professors. Associate Professor of French and Francophone Studies Aurélie Chatton provided support, openness and a listening ear for all the French TAs. While she initially did not want to take the economics classes Sciences Po Strasbourg required, Klos found encouragement and positive challenge from Department Co-Chair and Edward and Virginia Van Dalson Professor of Economics Patrik Hultberg and Assistant Professor of Economics Darshana Udayanganie.  

“I really liked the concept of office hours and the relationship between students and professors,” Klos said. “In France, we don’t feel close at all to our teachers. I used office hours a lot and I’m grateful to every professor for making them. Thanks to these relationships, I could navigate classes more easily. It feels good when professors are demanding because it brings us up.” 

Claudia Klos poses in front of Stetson Chapel
International student Claudia Klos poses in front of Stetson Chapel on the way to lunch in November 2022.
Four female students watching a baseball game
International student Claudia Klos (right) attends a K baseball game in April 2023 with Spanish international student and TA Clara Salomon, Laura Reinaux ’25 and Spanish international student and TA Lorena Velasco-Navarro.
Three female students bundled up to watch a football game
International student Claudia Klos (right) braves the cold to attend the Hornets’ last home football game in November 2022 with Spanish international student and TA Clara Salomon and Laura Reinaux ’25.

That balance of challenge and support was evident for Klos in her relationship with Political Science Professor and William Weber Chair of Social Science Amy Elman. 

“All of the challenge was rewarded since she got to know us and know our center of interest,” Klos said. “The professors were a big part of my experience.” 

Knowing Klos’ interests, Elman recommended her for EP-JMN Summer School, a June program at the University of Salamanca in Spain, where Klos met students from different parts of Europe and learned more about the European Union and various cultures. 

This fall, her travels will continue with a September program in eastern France that includes educational seminars followed by opportunities to teach the topics to school children.  

“I know that I got into that program thanks to my experiences at K, because I told them, ‘Listen, I’ve been teaching French in the U.S. for one year. I know how to present subjects and to deal with a class.’” 

Then, in October, Klos will begin a year of study in Krakow, where she looks forward to living for the first time in the country of her family’s heritage.  

“It’s going to be another amazing experience away from France that waits for me,” Klos said. “When one is abroad, everything is an amazement—the most boring streets, the most boring cars and houses for a local person—it is an amazement for a foreigner. I liked taking walks in the cemetery near campus, and it looks nothing like a cemetery in Europe. Just walking in Kalamazoo streets, the houses are so American. The most basic thing is so specific to this country I’m in, and so different from home, even though it’s the same thing. I think that we go back to childhood when we study abroad because we discover new things all the time. The most boring things become amazing, and we have stars in our eyes every time we see the most random thing, the most basic thing. That happens when we go abroad, so I would encourage anyone who is thinking about studying abroad to go for it.” 

Student Zeal for Study Abroad Affirms K’s Excellence

Study abroad student attending a festival in Germany
Kalamazoo College had 249 students at international sites like this one in
Germany in 2019-20, putting it 32nd overall among baccalaureate colleges
in the Open Doors Report, which ranks higher-education institutions
for study abroad participation.

An annual report released in November from the Institute of International Education (IIE) places Kalamazoo College among the top higher-education institutions in the country for study abroad opportunities based on student participation.

According to the Open Doors Report—which analyzes more than 1,800 institutions including doctoral universities, master’s colleges and universities, baccalaureate colleges, associate’s colleges and special-focus institutions—K had 249 students at international sites in 2019-20, putting it 32nd overall among baccalaureate colleges. K was the only Michigan institution to make the top-40 list in the category despite the College’s 2020 pause in study abroad with the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Students often cite study abroad opportunities as one of the big reasons why they attend K,” Center for International Programs (CIP) Executive Director Margaret Wiedenhoeft said. “A distinction like this reflects that. We’re proud we give our students a chance to broaden their view of the world in an advantageous and transformative experience.”

IIE shares the Open Doors Report yearly through the U.S. Department of State Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. The organization, founded in 1919, is a private, not-for-profit leader in the global exchange of people and ideas as it creates programs of study and training for students, educators and professionals from all sectors in collaboration with governments, foundations and other sponsors. Those programs include the Fulbright Program and Gilman Scholarships administered for the Department of State.

Combined efforts from K’s faculty and the CIP, along with the availability of international partners, have allowed study abroad to restart this fall at K with about 50 seniors in addition to the regular batch of juniors. In a normal academic year, K students can choose from 56 study abroad programs of varying lengths and emphases in 29 countries on six continents over three, six or nine months. The ventures allow students to challenge their assumptions about themselves and other cultures in a rigorous experiential education environment.

“The pandemic, despite its challenges, has only amplified K’s commitment to global experiences,” Wiedenhoeft said. “Students have remained determined to go abroad, and faculty and staff have shown a lot of flexibility and dedication to making that happen. When new students arrive at K and visit the CIP, they should know we can do our best to help them work toward their goals of studying abroad.”

Study Abroad Restarts, Includes About 50 Seniors

Kalamazoo College Students on Study Abroad at the Universidad de Extremadura in Caceras, Spain
Kalamazoo College students on study abroad pose outside the main building at the Universidad
de Extremadura in Caceras, Spain. Photo by Resident Director Victoria Pineda.

When COVID-19 forced Kalamazoo College to pause its study abroad programs last year, many juniors feared they would lose out on a life-changing opportunity. Delaying it a year is usually not possible with academic obstacles. Plus, varied pandemic protocols continue to make it difficult for students to travel at all.

“If you think about the preparations, the considerations and the protocols that we had to implement for students to be on campus in the last year, just multiply that by 50 for study abroad,” Center for International Programs (CIP) Executive Director Margaret Wiedenhoeft said. “It’s one thing for our international partners to have an academic plan. It’s another to think about all the components and putting them together to offer a meaningful program.”

However, students still had hope and refused to give up.

“When they realized they wouldn’t be going abroad as juniors, we had quite a few determined students who said, ‘I’m going as a senior. How do I make this work?’” Wiedenhoeft said.

Combine that desire with a flexible faculty that recognizes the importance of international immersion, plus a lot of hard work from the CIP, and K had a game plan to restart study abroad, especially for this year’s seniors. Their combined efforts and the availability of international partners are allowing about 50 seniors, in addition to the regular batch of juniors, to go abroad—about 161 students in total in study abroad and study away. That’s proving to be a point of pride at K and a significant number for any Great Lakes Colleges Association (GLCA) school.

“When I talk to my colleagues at other colleges and I tell them how many students we have abroad, their responses are genuinely full of joy and envy for these students,” Wiedenhoeft said. “There are other schools sending students abroad right now, but we definitely have a significantly higher number of students going abroad compared to our peers.”

More than 50 study abroad programs are typically available to K students and most of them are open again by meeting local protocols and health restrictions. Programs this year include two interim opportunities in Lyon, France, and Lüneburg, Germany, which might at some point become yearly destinations. There also are more permanent options opening for the first time in London and Belfast, which are launching a year late because of the COVID-19 hiatus.

Wiedenhoeft said the united effort across campus to make these programs possible should help newer students see the importance of visiting the CIP early and often should they desire a study abroad opportunity.

“I think this underscores our willingness to be flexible and support students who want to include a study abroad component as part of their experience at K,” she said. “It may not be exactly what the student had initially planned when they first arrived. But for students who are flexible and willing to adjust some of their expectations, we can do our best to work with students and make sure that they achieve that goal of getting off campus.”

Wiedenhoeft added students largely have expressed gratitude over study abroad restarting and their experiences, especially the seniors, even when additional COVID-19 protocols are required. For example, students who are now in Thailand and South Korea had to quarantine at a hotel for two weeks for the sake of public health laws.

“That speaks to the type of students we have at K,” she said. “They’ve demonstrated a lot of adaptability and flexibility. As it got closer, they got very excited and we were giving them very specific instructions. I think those instructions made it more intimidating to think about traveling. But the students we’ve heard from, including those who had to quarantine, are just excited to be abroad.”

International Internships Offer Global Work in Study Abroad’s Absence

Three students who had International Internships standing in front of the Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership
Julia Bienstock (from left), Ella Knight and Addissyn House worked in international internships this term, writing articles for a university’s publication in Spain. One of the articles provided Spanish students with an American view of the Black Lives Matter movement.

When study abroad stayed on pause this fall, Kalamazoo College faculty and staff got creative. In a short period of time, they developed positive, educational experiences for many of the juniors who expected to spend time in another country, showing the strength of the College’s relationships with its external partners.

“Our challenge partly was to identify what students could do to engage with our international partners and folks off campus, but the question was what that would look like,” Center for International Programs Executive Director Margaret Wiedenhoeft said. “It took working with our partners to see what would be possible.”

The solution for this term was a unique set of internships offered through K’s Center for International Programs (CIP), Center for Career and Professional Development (CCPD), Center for Civic Engagement (CCE) and Center for Environmental Stewardship (CES). The opportunities were designed quickly as a credit-granting class that provided work experience to 20 juniors, allowing them to build their resumes.

Five of those juniors, in fact, still had a chance to learn about another culture in working at virtual international internships with K partners overseas. Addissyn House, Ella Knight and Julia Bienstock are working with the Universidad de Extremadura in Cáceres, Spain, writing articles on current events from a U.S. perspective; and Reyna Rodriguez and Maricruz Jimenez-Mora are teaching English as a second language to people in San Jose, Costa Rica.

‘The Perfect Internship’

For House, Knight and Bienstock, this meant working virtually on a weekly basis with Gemma Delicado, an associate dean and study abroad director, on producing articles for the December issue of Vice Versa, a publication from the Universidad de Extremadura Humanities College, similar to an academic journal.

“A lot of students come to K because of study abroad,” Bienstock said. “It’s a big part of the K-Plan. It was disappointing not to study abroad. However, getting this internship opportunity was a positive thing because we’re going to have to navigate this pandemic for a while, which made the experience really powerful.”

Wiedenhoeft compared their experience to a virtual version of the integrated cultural research project (ICRP) that students would normally write while reflecting on their study abroad experience. House described it as the perfect internship for her.

“My goal was to immerse myself in Spanish, which was what I intended to do on study abroad, and I think we’ve done that to the best of our abilities,” House said. “We’re learning to read and write Spanish at a different level than what we could in school. It’s especially different because we’re online and collaborating a lot more. We can see where Gemma’s making edits, and she can explain why she makes them. I didn’t know that would come out of this experience.”

The topics the students write about include current events such as the Black Lives Matter movement, the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg and the U.S. presidential election, and the virtual format helps them understand such events from a Spanish perspective. The takeaway remains a cultural immersion that most interns elsewhere will never receive.

“It was disappointing not to study abroad, but this has been enriching in other ways,” Knight said. “It shows that no matter what happens, there’s hope that another opportunity will come along. I hadn’t written articles like this before for a Spanish audience and I’m learning new ways to talk about and teach culture.”

‘I See Myself in These Students’

For Rodriguez and Jimenez-Mora, an international internship meant teaching English to Costa Rican high school students.

K’s study abroad program has connections to Skills for Life, a Costa Rican government initiative targeting bilingualism among citizens for the sake of higher education and better employment. Within that program, Project Boomerang—a reference to volunteers giving back—helps high school students expand their English skills.

Rodriguez was excited for her chance to volunteer through her internship because she struggled to learn English as a child after moving to the Chicago area from Mexico.

“I came home crying because I couldn’t understand my teacher because she seemed to be speaking English so fast,” she said. “I see myself in these students. I know if they’re passionate enough, they’ll be able to succeed. I love the concept of the program because it means I’m giving back.”

Rodriguez typically teaches virtual classes of one to six students three times a week. The students have studied English for at least four years and can read it and write it well. Some even study additional languages. The program, though, provides the students with a stipend as they build their conversation skills on topics such as ice breakers, feelings, cuisine, culture and traditions.

Her fellow volunteers are from countries such as Korea, Brazil and the Netherlands. They all know at least some Spanish, and she and Jimenez-Mora speak it fluently.

“I think students really appreciate that we can speak Spanish because they’re able to ask questions in Spanish if necessary,” she said. “English can be difficult. The context you use and the conjugation can sometimes trip them up.”

Rodriguez has prior experience with teaching as a third-grade language arts assistant at El Sol Elementary in Kalamazoo through CCE. She doesn’t expect to pursue teaching professionally, although the internship has helped her build other job-related skills and she’s grateful for them.

“When I was a little girl, I always wanted to be a teacher,” she said. “As I’ve seen it growing up, teaching has been a passion. I don’t think it will be a career path, but this helps me see it will be something I pursue in my own time. Professionally, I’ve been able to communicate better with people just by learning how to say things differently. My time management has improved, and I think my creativity has improved as I’ve made my lesson plans and shifted them from elementary to high school students.”

Setbacks Create Opportunities

Although less than ideal with the pandemic, these opportunities have shown that K can channel its relationships abroad to create further opportunities for these students and others.

“It was our relationships with our international partners that really factored into our ability to develop this programming for students,” Wiedenhoeft said. “We try very seriously to nurture these relationships and these internships are the fruit of that. I think these students have demonstrated an ability to adapt to ambiguity and manage understanding how expectations can change, and can change based on a cultural perspective.”

K Student Earns FEA Scholarship to Study in Rome

Kalamazoo College sophomore Robert Davis ’18 was one of 51 students selected recently out of nearly 1,500 applicants nationwide for a $5,000 scholarship from the Fund for Education Abroad (FEA). The money will go toward his study abroad trip to Rome, Italy.

Robert Davis Education Abroad Scholarship
Robert Davis ’18 plans to take creative writing and theatre courses at the America University of Rome after earning a scholarship through the Fund for Education Abroad (FEA).

The FEA is a non-profit scholarship program that seeks underrepresented minority, LGBTQAI, first-generation, veterans, returning learners, disabled and community college students, as well as students pursuing language instruction and non-traditional destinations.

The students, who combined were awarded $225,000, will study abroad for up to a full academic year. This year, 88 percent of the students are of minority backgrounds, and 84 percent are first-generation college students. Almost all awardees, 98 percent, will study the host country language and 46 percent have a community college background.

Robert is excited to be connected with other students across the US and to embark upon a new chapter in his collegiate career in Rome. Robert says, “I’m excited to see ancient ruin sites like the Coliseum and the Arch of Constantine and glean more knowledge about theater of ancient Rome and explore how it has influenced contemporary Roman theatre. I plan to take courses related to creative writing and theatre at the American University of Rome and I’m excited to learn more about those disciplines in a new environment.”

He plans to take creative writing and theatre courses at the America University of Rome. He feels confident that his accomplishment will be a necessary stepping stone to advance to the grad school of his dreams so that he can return to his old high school to become an educator and publish his works.

Text by Aunye Scott-Anderson ’18