When it comes to global exchange and making an impact abroad, fellowships like Princeton in Asia and Fulbright offer incredible ways to dive into new cultures and gain hands-on experience. Princeton in Asia (PiA) places recent graduates in meaningful roles across Asia, where they contribute to local organizations. At the same time, Fulbright offers grants for Americans to teach, study, or conduct research in over 140 countries. Hannah, our featured fellow, has charted a unique course through both of these programs—first with a Princeton in Asia Fellowship in Taiwan, and now as a Fulbright grantee in Indonesia. Her journey is one of curiosity, adaptability, and a dedication to making a meaningful impact, all of which shines through as she shares the experiences and insights that have shaped her policy and public service career.

What made you interested in pursuing public policy and global commerce in undergrad?

Growing up in DC, I was always surrounded by discussions of politics. In high school, I had the chance to volunteer at the 2016 Democratic National Convention and New Hampshire Republican presidential primary, where several politicians wryly advised me not to enter politics.

Later that year, I was lucky to start college as a guinea pig in UVA’s pilot interdisciplinary curriculum called “The Forum.” This allowed me to take fascinating classes across departments on global economic and social mobility and cap it off with a language immersion and field research for my thesis on third places and ceremonies of belonging across Spain, the US, and Japan.

These courses and public sector internships reinforced for me– that though politics may be a tricky field– policy was a channel for enacting change in areas I cared about. I applied to UVA’s Frank Batten School of Leadership & Public Policy in my 2nd year.

During undergrad, you won the Critical Language Scholarship to study in Indonesia. Can you tell us about your experience in this program?

The windy road to my Bahasa Indonesia CLS began in Sydney, Australia. Although I had learned about Asia in the classroom, I realized through conversations with my classmates from China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong, that I knew very little about the cultural and historical nuances that dictated life in that part of the world.

At the same time, I was studying environmental policy and volunteering in a jacky dragon research lab (a lizard endemic to south-eastern Australia). I had always loved wildlife, and in Sydney was exploring ways a policy career could bring me closer to the animals I admired, despite my lack of college-level chemistry classes.

Somewhat optimistically, naively, or both, I applied for an internal scholarship at the University of Virginia through its Environment Resilience Institute to work at the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) that summer (among about 65 other internships and scholarships).

Continue reading about Hannah's experience and work on ProFellow.