Alex Ash '16
All Stories

Alex Ash ’16, who graduated with a major in Communication and a minor in Women’s and Gender Studies, has been selected for a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship (ETA) in Thailand. Driven both by her experiences as a fellow at the Brainard Writing Center on campus and as a third-grade teaching assistant this past school year, Ms. Ash is heading for a placement in a Thai school where she will teach English and share aspects of her U.S. culture. The native of Reading, Penn., is looking forward to creating an enjoyable classroom environment in Thailand to keep her students’ attention on the learning goals. “If my students are having fun while learning, they are staying engaged with the material and not feeling defeated by setbacks,” she wrote in her application essay. She plans to facilitate language learning through interactive lessons that take English out of the textbook and put it in a real-world context. For example, she hopes to use American films and other media to encourage language learning and promote discussions about American and Thai culture.

Outside of her time in the classroom, Ms. Ash intends to create a video documentary about her host community, gathering interviews and learning about the diversity of its people. “Each person experiences the world differently,” she wrote, “and by learning about these experiences we become more conscientious and think more critically about our assumptions and beliefs.” After returning to the US, she plans to pursue a graduate degree in feminist theory while in her spare time creating visual projects that explore the lives and stories of populations traditionally underrepresented in the media.

The Fulbright Fellowship is the premier program of cultural and educational exchange for American students, supported by the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.

Congratulations to Alex Ash on her Fulbright Fellowship!