Meet the 2009-2010 Pia Fellows
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
194 Nassau Street PACIFIC Suite 212 Princeton, NJ 08542 Phone: (609) 258 3657 [email protected] www.princeton.edu/~pia Newsletter of PrincetonBRIDGES in Asia Spring 2009 Meet the 2009-2010 PiA Fellows We are delighted to introduce year of service and under- you to the 2009-2010 Prince- standing how their time with ton in Asia fellows. This year, PiA will fit with their larger we selected 155 people (141 goals, both as professionals full-year fellows, 14 summer and as global citizens. We interns) from the most robust would like to share with you a applicant pool to date. And few of their thoughts from ap- those selected make us real- plication essays PiA received ize, even more than before, this year. that if we alumni applied to “As the bus pulled away and PiA today, we would never the other passengers scattered, get in. The candidates come the old woman I befriended to us from over 110 univer- told me to wait. Sheikh Sulei- sities and colleges in North man, the religious leader of America and Europe and the village and my new boss, bring with them incredible PiA 2008 teaching fellows in Nan, Thailand getting their last licks would come to collect me talents, a desire to learn, and before handing over their posts to their eager successors. Karen Bailey, soon. Reminding me one more an unmatched commitment to Helena Minchew, and Kelly Harper (from left to right). time that I was not to speak service. This year’s formida- to men, she kissed me on the ble group encompasses a former Buddhist PiA Grows while the Economy Slows cheek and left. It as my first day in the Jor- monk, an Italian chef, a student fluent in The number of applicants to PiA grew danian village that was to be my home for five languages, artists, cartographers, and nearly 20% this year, due not only to word the next two years and standing alone in the a farm girl from Canada whose cover let- of mouth from current fellows and alumni deserted bus station, I wondered what I had ter promises she can castrate a bull calf if but also to the slowdown in our economy. gotten myself into. Two years later, I found necessary. Some candidates have traveled With fewer banking and consulting jobs myself standing in the same bus station but to six of seven continents while others have available to recent graduates, young people under very different circumstances. I was never left the comforts of home, but all are are re-thinking their post-graduate options. leaving the village. I left my village felling eager to have their worldview completely Many are much more open to traversing the like I could do anything. That feeling has altered. This is the time of year we love the less-traveled paths and exploring opportu- yet to go away.” most – the opportunity to meet one of the nities that will help them grow beyond the Bess Nuland, Dili, Timor-Leste most incredible groups of young, inspiring tradition and comfort of the lives they have people around is one of the most rewarding known. Our fellows have put much careful “I hope with all of my heart that I am pre- aspects of working at PiA. thought into their decisions – discovering sented with an opportunity to work with their true motivations for wanting to do a (continued on page 2) Meet the 2009-2010 PiA Fellows (continued) young children next year. I think that the original goal has shifted and instead I will Opening the Singapore Field Office hardest part of living in any of these coun- shape the affairs of something far more PiA will be opening a PiA field office in tries may also be what makes living in valuable, the minds of individuals.” Singapore in July 2009. PiA Deputy Direc- them incredible. I want to be exposed to Larry Graham, China tor Leslie Medema drew the lucky fortune different ways of life and people with dif- “I believe that experience is the most cru- and will be on the ground soon to establish ferent priorities, faiths, and daily lives. I cial construct of one’s identity and thought the office infrastructure. The goals of the would be lying if I said I didn’t have any process. A person who has broader experi- PiA field office are to: fears. I am not entirely sure what it is that ences thinks across a wider plain and de- I’m looking for or if what I’m looking for 1. Assist in health and safety emergencies velops an ability to address and solve so- can be described in words. What I do know in real time cial problems at a more natural and holistic is that I need to see the world. I need to see 2. Enhance PiA’s impact through support level. On a personal level, I hope that my the good, the bad, the ugly, the weird and of current fellows, including on-site basic assumptions and values will be chal- the beautiful.” training and professional development lenged and expanded through the experi- Samantha O’Hara, Yakage, Japan 3. Expand PiA’s reach by taking advantage ence. Although, I would like to think that I (elementary school teacher) of new initiatives and placement am a global and open-minded thinker, my opportunities quickly and “I have always been involved in volunteer- experience in cultures truly different from comprehensively ing and teaching underprivileged students my own is limited. For this reason, I am 4. Strengthen relationships in the region in the United States, Jamaica and Belize very excited at the possibility to immerse and gather regional alumni more often and to give to the children the same oppor- myself in traditions, foods and rituals dif- 5. Serve as host and guide to Singapore’s tunities for education that I was afforded. ferent from my own.” best Hawker Centers for all visiting But until a year and a half ago I expected Matt Kuzio, Ulaan Baatar, Mongolia guests. Please visit soon! to graduate with an accounting degree. My Let’s Face It Times are tougher than rush hour in Tokyo… Luckily, the Tiger Baron Foundation has pledged up to $50,000 to match any donations made to PiA before June 30, 2009. Our goal: increased participation from all corners of the PiA network. You can provide the spark we need during the economic slowdown – and help PiA make a powerful statement about the strength of our network, even How to Donate: in difficult times. Online: www.princeton.edu/~pia Mail: 194 Nassau Street, Suite 212 If you never thought your humble yuan, Princeton, NJ 08542 yen, or rupees would make much of an Phone: (609) 258-3657 impact, this is your chance to help us PiA summer intern alumna and current PiA PiA is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, take advantage of this remarkable fellow Lisa Kelley lights a lantern with a and all gifts are tax-deductible to the full member of the Jishou community in Hunan extent allowed by law. opportunity to light our FIRE! Province, China. [ 2 ] Introducing PiA’s new Director of Alumni Relations: Megan McGowan To paraphrase one high-profile Princeton of culture, tourism, or even natural beauty; At the end of my PiA year, I returned to alumnus: there are known knowns – the telling someone in Bangkok that you’re liv- New York and joined a financial services things we know we know. There are also ing in Khon Kaen is something like telling consulting firm (apparently I have a knack known unknowns; that is to say we know a New Yorker that you traveled halfway for putting myself in situations I know I there are some things we do not know. But around the world to spend a year in the know nothing about). But to enhance my there are also unknown unknowns – the U.S., and you decided to settle in Brook- connection with Asia and PiA, I volun- ones we didn’t know we didn’t know. ings, South Dakota (sorry Leslie and Kai). teered to help plan last year’s Lunar New Surely, there must’ve been some mistake. Year Benefit at the Rubin Museum in New Funny how those unknown unknowns can I was FUN – didn’t Anastasia know I was York, and I was much more engaged and change everything. fun? Why didn’t they send me somewhere excited about the work I was doing for PiA fun? than for my “actual” job. I had caught the PiA bug. Looking around the room at my But lest our alums first Annual Dinner after returning from from the Mount Rush- the field, I realized that like the University, more State protest, I PiA’s alumni network is its most valuable admit that I was im- unknown unknown. Like high school stu- mediately and unex- dents applying to Princeton, new PiA fel- pectedly won over by lows cannot imagine that hidden behind the Thai heartland. this incredible experience is a lifetime of From the moment I connections to amazingly talented, engag- touched down, my ing, hilarious people. experience moved sol- idly into the realm of I’m extremely excited to come on board as Director of Alumni Relations, joining Megan samples Burmese cuisine with new friends in Mandalay. unknown unknowns – things I could have the most fun and inspiring coworkers I never anticipated. I fell in love with teach- could’ve asked for. I’m hoping to find cre- My PiA journey began with what I knew ing, the absurdly hot weather, the freakish ative and meaningful ways to broaden our I didn’t know: namely, anything about hospitality of the Land of Smiles, the un- already strong network of alumni, family, Asia.