my entry to WSU's student blog

So I was asked by my past employer, Director of English Language Programs at Winona State University, Katie Subra to be an alumni writer to add to the student stories for the 2020 - 2021 University Theme, "My Global Identity. Our Global Community." I lowkey went all in for it, highlighting most of my journey along the lines of being a global citizen and learning more about where I want my life to lead.

This is long... but enjoy~!

Growing up in a family of Polish immigrants, I found myself curious about other countries and cultures from a young age. I’ve often heard stories from my mother and father’s family speak about life back in Poland as well as the obstacles they’ve faced while trying to build a new life in America. This sparked the start of what would become my life path.

I was drawn to the idea of working with individuals from other countries and thought the way to do so would be through immigration law. I heard from my family members and other immigrants how they faced many obstacles gaining American citizenship to provide better opportunities to their families, and I felt compelled to help those aspiring to do the same.

As a high school student, I took Spanish and Chinese language courses, self-studied a little of Korean, and volunteered at the McHenry County Courthouse as a peer juror to learn early on other languages, cultures, and American legal proceedings.

I began my journey to become an immigration lawyer at Winona State University in August of 2016 majoring in the Legal Studies and minoring in Data Science. I instantly got involved in many of WSU’s student organizations including West Campus’ Leadership House Interest Community, Society of Young Legal Professionals, and International Club. This start made me feel confident I was on my way towards my true path.

My connection with WSU’s International Club is what really intensified my passion for working with diverse individuals and becoming educated on what it means to be a global citizen.

I found myself making some of my first international friends, adding Japanese Studies as a minor, and even got scouted out to join WSU’s English Language Center’s (ELC) team while on International Club’s annual ski trip! Joining this international community inspired me to dive in headfirst to what really brings me fulfillment.

I got elected as International Club Vice President at the end of my freshman year and worked on running the club alongside my other board members from May 2017 to May 2018. Simultaneously, I was the office assistant, activities assistant and tutor for ELC, getting closer and closer to the international student body as a whole.

Being a fundamental piece of one of the biggest student organizations on WSU’s campus and WSU's English language learning community gave me a sense of importance and helped me feel like I can make a difference outside of just law.

I found that my true path wasn’t tied to law or being in the US for that matter – I itched to go out an explore. That’s when I changed my major to my at-the-time minor halfway through my sophomore year.

Being bilingual growing up and an avid language learner since high school made it feel natural learning different coding languages and being able to tell a story through data. It was meaningful to me that the Data Science major was more diverse and had many career opportunities globally for me to pursue.

There was an unfortunate event I experienced as well at this time that brought me closer as well to my club members. In February 2018, I had an apartment fire that resulted in unlivable conditions and emergency relocation. This happened the same day we were to have our weekly International Club meeting.

I was immediately welcomed into the homes of many of my board and club members. I was so touched to have the love and support from my club community, and I found myself starting to live with international students.

I instantly feel in love with the dynamics and exchange opportunities that came with living with international students and continued doing so for the rest of my undergraduate career.

While at WSU, I worked hard to understand data science within various cultural contexts. After finishing my year of being International Club Vice President, I continued being a member of the club, joining more of WSU’s student-lead cultural organizations such as Japan Club and Korea Club, and maintained my employment ELC, to which later became English Language Programs (ELP).

Due to my involvement in WSU’s international community as a student and student worker, I expanded my cultural awareness and began networking with WSU’s Center for Global Education. Creating connections with Susan Pham, Director of Study Abroad, and Renee Stowell, Center of Global Education’s scholarship advisor, I began self-reflecting on not only what I wanted my undergraduate career to look like, but also the rest of my life.

Ever since I first learned about Korea’s turbulent history in high school, the parallels between Korea and Poland’s challenges to national sovereignty instantly drew me in. Although they are very different countries, both have a history of overcoming occupation and maintaining proud and prominent cultures.

 Because there were no opportunities to formally learn Korean at my high school or at WSU, I never thought I’d be able to pursue this interest; however, the persuasion and support from my global connections helped me open my eyes to the options that do exist through WSU.

The friendships made through the international student body and Susan Pham’s encouragement gave me courage to actively participate in the Korean culture and go on a short-term program to Chung-Ang University (CAU) the summer of 2018. There, I was finally able to formally study the language I fell in love with and integrate into Korean society.

Upon return to the US, I immediately planned for another exchange to Korea, continued immersing myself in Korean culture by living with Korean international students, maintained being an active member of the student cultural organizations at WSU, and worked hard engaging with ELP’s staff and students.

Also, during the year leading up to my next exchange program at CAU, I began working closely with Renee Stowell on multiple scholarship applications to explore studying and working in Korea outside of study abroad programs.

Through her help an assistance, I was able to be a semi-finalist in the 2018 – 2019 Critical Language Scholarship, an alternate for the 2019 – 2020 Boren Awards, and worked on my application for the English Teaching Assistant Fulbright Scholarship during my time abroad.

During my second exchange to Korea for the Fall 2019 semester, I took advantage of my extended stay to gain a deeper understanding of English language education, effective teaching strategies from the Korean point of view, and expanded my experience teaching English to Korean students.

I joined CAU’s Korea Club to meet Korean and international students at my exchange university, and I applied and was granted the Global Student Internship by CAU's Office of International Affairs, specifically in the E-Lounge aiding English language learners. 

When I returned to WSU for my final semester, I wanted to finish my time as an undergraduate student strong. Although the COVID-19 pandemic started and all expectations had to be modified, I was lucky enough to be nominated by Katie Subra, Director of ELP, and selected by WSU's Learning & Community Engagement Committee as an awardee of the 2020 WSU President’s Student Leadership Award.

Awardees are chosen based on what they have done in the community and the committee's belief that the awardee will continue to make a difference as a member of WSU's “community of learners improving our world.” This final honor made me feel so heart-warmed – my dedication to WSU was recognized!

Through WSU’s tools instilled in me and Renee Stowell’s guidance, I have an exciting journey ahead of me. In April of 2020, I was awarded as a finalist for the 2020 – 2021 Fulbright Scholarship - South Korea Elementary English Teaching Assistantship.

In addition to teaching English at an elementary school, I proposed to get involved in a national women’s organization in South Korea as part of my grant. I intend to gain a deeper understanding of the culture of working women in Korea broadly, but am particularly interested in the atmosphere for women in STEM fields.

Given the global pandemic, my award year will be drastically different than expected, but I intend to have a meaningful impact. Through my Fulbright experience, I hope to gain deeper insight about the unbreakable Korean spirit, expand my understanding of cultural context through engaging with my community, and learn more about the Korean perspective through teaching and learning from my students to become a more culturally aware  educator and data analyst.

The following statements, thoughts and information presented are my own and do not represent the U.S. Department of State or its Fulbright Program.