Browsing Category

Foreign Fulbright

Enrichment Foreign Fulbright Fulbright-Millennial Trains Project

Learning Beyond Books

June 19, 2015
Magdalena - 1

2015 Fulbright-MTP participant from Poland Magdalena Leszko sitting on the Fulbright-MTP panel in Washington, DC held at the end of this year’s journey

If you told me one day that I would be one of 25 people traveling across the United States on a train for 10 days, I would have thought you were crazy. Ten days on a train? How could you possibly do that? Well, I did it, and I can tell you that I would do it again.

Today (Saturday, June 13th) marks two weeks since we finished the journey. I have learned a great deal, but I strongly believe that the future will show exactly how profound the journey’s impact was on my professional and personal life.

The experience of being on the train was extremely rewarding for me, as it allowed me to meet many interesting people and see what some of the American South looks like.

Continue Reading

0 Comments
Enrichment Foreign Fulbright Fulbright-Millennial Trains Project

Planting the Seeds of Hope

June 17, 2015

Urban agriculture is a thriving industry with unlimited potential. It is not just about food, it is, first and foremost, about people and their relationship to food and the environment. My Fulbright-Millennial Trains Project journey continued to flourish while I met creative and innovative urban farmers in each city.

Fulbright Student from Iraq, Saja Al Quzweeni, on board the Millennial Trains Project.

Fulbright Student from Iraq, Saja Al Quzweeni, on board the Millennial Trains Project

In New Orleans, I visited the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts (NOCCA). NOCCA is a regional, pre-professional arts training center that offers students intensive instruction in culinary arts, dance, media arts, music, theater arts, visual arts, and creative writing. The Culinary Arts Department offers a four-year course of study for talented students who aspire to be chefs. The Culinary Arts program was developed in collaboration with the Emeril Lagasse Foundation and is supported by Johnson & Wales University. The students are provided with the opportunity to work side by side with leading master chefs who serve as professional mentors.

Continue Reading

0 Comments
Foreign Fulbright U.S. Fulbright

Fulbright: An Inspirational and Inclusive Community

June 9, 2015
Disability Seminar - 1

Fulbright Disability Seminar attendees at an offsite session at the Bay Area Recreation and Outreach Program

Are you a U.S. citizen with a disability interested in applying for a Fulbright grant? Attend the webinar for applicants with disabilities on Friday, June 12, 3:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. ET. To learn more, click here.

“The disability community is the one minority group that you can join.” In her key note address, Paralympics medalist and humanitarian aid worker, Tiana Tozer, shared her story of becoming disabled at the age of twenty when a drunk driver hit her car in oncoming traffic. Through her story, Tozer touched upon common assumptions, attitudes and stigmas that reinforce the exclusion of those with disabilities. She called on Fulbrighters to “educate change” through leadership and service and set the tone for an eye opening, interactive seminar.

From April 29 to May 3, over sixty Fulbrighters from forty different countries attended the Fulbright Enrichment Seminar on U.S Disability Rights in Berkeley, California. This seminar is one of several enrichment seminars that the U.S. Department of State sponsors for Fulbright Foreign Students in the United States.

Throughout the seminar, participants heard from key figures in the disability rights movement as well as those working towards broader community inclusion through policy, advocacy, and design. Several sessions stood out as exceptionally inspiring.

Continue Reading

0 Comments
Enrichment Foreign Fulbright Fulbright-Millennial Trains Project

Discovering the Power of Storytelling and More in New Orleans

May 29, 2015
Pichleap with Mitch Landrieu

Fulbright Foreign Student from Cambodia Pichleap Sok meeting New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu, after the MTP visit to the New Orleans Mission, to discuss community innovation and how New Orleans has rebuilt itself after Hurricane Katrina.

The Fulbright-Millennial Trains Project has been one of the best traveling experiences I have ever had. It’s not just about sharing your ideas, experiences and time with 24 millennial participants, but also about discovering different parts of the United States. When the train stops in each city, we have about five hours to visit. Exploring a city in just five hours is definitely a challenge, but the idea of getting to know each city from the perspective of the other 24 MTP participants has been and is – absolutely amazing. Each and every millennial on the train has an individual project they are working on, and when the train stops in a different city, we go to different places to do our projects. When we return to the train and share our experiences, it is great to compare notes on each city’s unique culture, accent, identity, people and food.

Continue Reading

2 Comments
Enrichment Foreign Fulbright Fulbright-Millennial Trains Project

Urban Farming Across America

May 29, 2015
Fulbright-MTP Train Participant Saja Al Quzweeni from Iraq, left, interviews

Fulbright-MTP Train Participant Saja Al Quzweeni from Iraq, left, interviews Skeets Rapier, the Director of Operations at The Renewable Republic, about his aquaponics, solarpowered organic farm. Photo by MTP Train’s Jenny Gottstein

My Fulbright-MTP project is surveying the best practices in urban agriculture across different American Cities. The anticipated outcome of this journey is to design a holistic model of urban farming that connects people with their land and each other. Urban agriculture will be utilized to offer not just food, but also a terrain in which people come together and build their community.

The project started in Los Angeles where I visited, Women Organizing Resources Knowledge Service or WORKS. The organization’s mission is to provide affordable housing with affordable food for lower-income communities,  and for people with disabilities and illnesses. My interview with Channa Grace, President of WORKS, inspired me as she used her personal experiences to leverage the status of the disadvantaged. WORKS also invites people to change their lives and adopt healthy eating habits through growing their own produce.

Continue Reading

0 Comments