What Do We Call This‪?‬ CLSAS

One aspect of identity is educational background and access. In this conversation, we talk with Jessica and Jordan, two CLS alums who work with Global Community College Transfers (GCCT) to increase more inclusion in the world of international exchange.

Global Community College Transfers' (GCCT) mission is to close the knowledge barriers to global education opportunities for community college students and those at underserved public institutions while building a platform to connect current community college and transfer students with recruiters, stakeholders, and participants within the foreign affairs landscape. You can learn more about the organization and explore their upcoming programming by visiting https://www.globalcctransfers.org/.

Jordan is a community college transfer student from Berkeley City College in California and a current student at Columbia University. He studied Arabic in Egypt in 2017, and then again in Morocco as a CLS 2018 cohort member.

Jessica studied the Russian language in the 2018 CLS program in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. She has lived abroad in 5 countries and is starting her career in U.S. government service.

Listen to how 2 Chinese language students created a pen pal program, to strengthen the ways we learn and communicate with people in China. Don't underestimate the power of penpal friendships!

William Yuen Yee is a junior at Columbia University studying Political Science and East Asian Languages and Cultures. He was a 2019 CLS Chinese participant and co-founded Window to the World, a volunteer-operated organization dedicated to creating international pen pal partnerships between students in the United States and in Chinese-speaking regions. He also conducts research on US-China relations and international law for Professor Thomas Christensen and Dr. Maria Adele Carrai at the Columbia-Harvard China and the World Program.

Jessica Jue is originally from the Seattle area and participated in CLS (Changchun, China) in 2019. She graduated from Carnegie Mellon University in 2018 with a B.S. in Biological Sciences and an Additional Major in Chinese Studies.

CW: Abuse, Interpersonal Violence

In this episode of What Do we Call This?, we sit down with Anesce Dremen, a first-generation college student who studied in four cities in China (Xi’an, Beijing, Chengdu, and Suzhou) with the support of the Critical Language Scholarship and the Benjamin A. Gilman Scholarship. Anesce shares her story, the challenges of reconciling painful pasts in new places, and her experiences navigating those elements of identity that are not always visible to others.

Anesce graduated from Carthage College with degrees in Chinese and English literature (creative writing concentration), and her bilingual work focuses on academic literary research, poetry, and newspaper articles. When not writing, Anesce is found tea cup in hand, traveling between the U.S, China, and India while maintaining a budget travel blog and writing novels. She has been selected as a 2020 Fulbright ETA to India.

Follow Anesce's work via social media @WritersDremen or through her free newsletter: https://mailchi.mp/e21fc1ad2356/anesce

Editor: Gabriel Carrillo
Producer: Naika C. Pierre
Hosts: Miriam Tinberg and Ashley Rivenbark

In this episode, Miriam interviews her co-host Ashley and producer Sana, who were on the same 2014 CLS Chinese program in Hangzhou, China. We compare and contrast their unique experiences as a white American woman and Hmong-American woman, respectively. We talk about how they were perceived in China, how they saw themselves, and how those two realities might interact and push back against one another. Buckle up; it's a good one!

Bios: 
Ashley graduated with a BA in Chinese and Spanish languages in 2014 from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and with an MA in Management in 2016 from the Wake Forest School of Business. Within her current role as Learning & Development Specialist, Ashley develops and promotes company-wide Diversity & Inclusion strategies and knowledge-sharing. She is passionate about language learning, storytelling, and cross-cultural education, and therefore is incredibly excited to co-host the CLSAS Diversity & Inclusion Podcast Series!

Sana Vang is the former Vice President and former adviser to CLSAS. Sana earned her MA in Intercultural and International Communication at American University and also studied abroad for a year in Nanjing, China, obtaining a Certificate in Chinese and American Studies from the Johns Hopkins University Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies. She currently works in program and grant management at a national youth development organization.

Kelly was born in Haiti and at the age of ten boarded a plane in Port-au-Prince that was headed for New York City. He majored in political science at Colgate University, where he also participated in three study abroad programs in South Africa, Israel, and Switzerland and studied Hebrew, Spanish, and French. Kelly also attended law school for two full semesters before he had his first teaching experience at a school in an Ecuadorian village. That experience led him on his current career path: a journey which afforded him the opportunity to teach in Asia, South America, and colleges in the City University of New York. He earned a master’s degree in T.E.S.O.L. from Hunter College and currently a Ph.D. student at Penn State.

Eamon Ormseth is an alumni of the 2015 CLS Arabic program in Meknes, Morocco. Eamon graduated from the University of Montana, where he studied history and Arabic language. He has worked in the mountains of Montana in wilderness therapy, as an interfaith organizer, and most recently served as the Resident Director for the 2019 CLS Program in Meknes. In his spare time, Eamon enjoys reading, playing tennis, backpacking in the wilderness, and swing dancing. He currently works as a Program Coordinator for the Arab American Language Institute in Meknes.