Last week was the last week I hosted FHE, Fellows for Higher Education, at my old high school, KSJC. Starting this past week, the school year had already begun, with freshmen roaming the halls and new teachers looking just as confused as the new students. The old students that I knew, juniors and seniors, were now the leaders.

My summer was meant to help the rising seniors with their college applications, essays, and to help them find scholarships. While fewer students showed up than expected, my group of teammates and I were able to find a way to work around that issue. We had decided, instead, to create a Google Drive filled with a wealth of information on various scholarships, paid internships, or summer programs that were either heavily subsidized or covered for students.

While the summer did not turn out the way I had expected it to, I actually like to think it’s better! I learned that resources like this help the students and teachers much more at a campus like mine. The teachers are much better equipped to persuade the students, especially the stubborn ones who would rather be told they’re right. Through that specific experience, I definitely learned that working with high schoolers is not my strong suit. However, I loved working with the teachers and staff to create materials that would be helpful to the students indirectly throughout the school year.

The summer, overall, was rewarding. It was trying at times to work with students who were strong-headed, and with students did not show up, despite saying otherwise the day before. I would not trade this experience though, because I learned that I really did want to advocate for education equity and that it was an important issue that meant a lot to me as a FLI student. I ended this summer with a clearer picture of what I want to accomplish this next year as a Service Focus Fellow and with new ideas on how to help my community!

KSJC, otherwise known as KIPP: San Jose Collegiate, became the first KIPP school I worked at. As a former  KSJC wolf myself, the amount of joy I had when I worked with my old teachers was indescribable. As a charter network, KIPP prides itself as “once a KIPPster, always a KIPPster”, with the motto extending to the KSJC Wolfpack. Coming back and creating a small change put the belief in perspective for me.

On that end, I was also extremely excited when my old teachers who have begun their first years as principals of new KIPP: schools responded to my emails. I’ll be working with them in the near future to create the same type of worksheets and spreadsheets for their students as well!

By Hanying Jiang

Though my internship with the Summer Journalism Program (SJP) ended on August 16th, I imagine I’m never going to be able to leave this program. I have many thanks for the program. As a student participant, I was given an opportunity to really surround myself with people who shared the same intellectual curiosity as me. As an intern, I was given the opportunity to create the schedule and manage the events for a new batch of curious and determined students.

Admittedly, the days planning the program were relatively uneventful — it was a typical 9 to 5 job with a lot of spreadsheeting. At that point, it was hard to tell what we’re actually trying to achieve.

On August 2nd, the program officially began with the arrival of our students. I remember running between terminals at Newark Airport and meeting each student who flew in. I was finally able to put faces to the biographies and essays that I read throughout the summer. I gave each of them a big hug — seeing them, I realize that the priority for the next ten days was to make sure they enjoy every moment.

The rest was pretty blurry. I remember late nights and early mornings, running across Friend Center to greet each interviewer who came through the doors, power-walking from building to building to ensure we were on time, laughing with the students at the back of the bus to New York, and belting songs from the “Hamilton” soundtrack throughout the days. Time moved slower during the ten days, but I didn’t feel tired at all. I felt energized every time I talked to the students.

They started repeating a catchphrase I used during the program: “walk with urgency.” They started being more casual, joking with and teasing me. They gave me hugs when I seemed particularly stressed. One student ran up to me one day while FaceTiming her mom and introduced us. In those moments, I didn’t mind being sleep deprived at all.

There were most definitely harder moments. The students come from tough backgrounds, and it broke my heart hearing their stories. But they’re not defined by their sad stories, they all have so much more to them. All of them are incredibly resilient.

Hearing their struggles solidified my choice to enter the field of education. There are so many brilliant, kind, and hardworking students out there — they all deserve a chance to empower themselves. The best way to do so, in my opinion, is through providing increased access to quality education, opening them to a world of opportunities, and exposing them to new experiences.

I plan on checking in on every 36 student in the next year, making sure that they can always reach out to me for help. For local students, I’ve already offered them meal swipes if they were to ever visit.

I genuinely love this group of kids and every counselor who supported this program. The Princeton Summer Journalism Program will always have a special place in my heart.

By Eric Tran

Words cannot describe how transformative my time abroad was. I am back home now after being in Vietnam for two months for an internship, and I miss Vietnam every day. The best part of my time in Vietnam, aside from the rewarding work that I have done in-country, was just the sheer sense of cultural immersion that I have experienced. Growing up in San Diego, I was always exposed to a literal melting pot of cultures—Vietnamese culture included. Then, when I went away to college, my entire sense of Vietnamese community collapsed. I barely knew any Vietnamese people on campus, and none of my close friends were Vietnamese like they were back home. The only time I ever got to speak Vietnamese during the school year was when I called my parents every night. Needless to say, I felt isolated from my culture and my heritage. So, when I learned that I got accepted to an internship in Hanoi, which I had never been to before, I was ecstatic. Being surrounded by people that shared the same language, customs, beliefs, and even being surrounded by people that looked like me was insanely refreshing. Prior to this, I had not been in Vietnam for over twelve years, and my oh my has the country changed. Being able to explore it, on my own, as an adult, was an amazing experience. I tried new foods, visited beautiful places that I had never been before, and reconnected with old friends while making some new friends along the way. I will never forget just how perfect my time in Vietnam was, even if I did have the stomach flu..twice!

In regards to the actual work that I did, I found teaching to be extremely rewarding. Speaking both English and Vietnamese definitely helped, and teaching students that were around my age was also a lot more convenient. I taught at a primary school for two weeks while the university that I taught at was out for summer break, and it goes without saying that the kids were A LOT harder to work with! My students and I also had a unique relationship that they had never had before with their previous English teachers. Because there was no language or culture barrier, we got along very well, and I became good friends with many of the students that I taught. We hung out outside of the class numerous times, and leaving them to return to America was undoubtedly a bittersweet moment for both parties. We have group-chats though, so we have been keeping in touch and that is enough for me! I also participated in a summer camp sponsored by my host organization, and I also befriended many people at that camp. We, like the university students, also have a group-chat, and they even treated me out to a delicious dinner before I flew home.

As for how I have grown personally, I would say that the growth that I have been fortunate enough to achieve has been immeasurable. I learned that I am capable of doing amazing things, even if I may doubt myself initially. I taught my various English classes for about 6 weeks by myself until the school found someone to teach with me, and during that time, all I could think initially was, “Oh my God, how am I supposed to craft my own lesson plans and teach eight different classes the lessons for an hour and a half each class by myself?” I felt like there was no way on Earth that I could find enough material to last that long, and I thought the classes would be too difficult to keep under control and manage by myself, but I would say that by the second or third week, things kind of fell into place and I did not feel all of that pressure anymore. The students and I found our groove, and it kind of just continued throughout the rest of my internship. I would also say that I grew a lot as a Vietnamese person. In America, recently, I felt as if my Vietnamese identity was slowly fading away, but the time I spent in Vietnam turned that right around. I got to speak Vietnamese every day, read Vietnamese every day, and write in Vietnamese every day too. In the United States, I only usually have to speak it, but now, being in a place where I have to pull out all the stops language-wise, I definitely feel as though my Vietnamese proficiency has improved tremendously, and I think my parents are proud of that! In terms of other people, I have also learned that others generally genuinely want to make the world a better place. I lived in a house full of other volunteers, some of whom have been in Vietnam for years. They do not get paid for the work that they do, but they stay and do this difficult work because it is rewarding for them and they get to improve the lives of the Vietnamese people. I felt proud and thankful to be able to be a part of something bigger than myself alongside others who felt the same way. Lastly, I want to talk about how this summer has reaffirmed to me what I had always felt to be true about myself: above all else, I care about making the world a better place through the power of education. Through my work, I have directly impacted the lives of others in a positive manner, and I can physically feel the weight of that work, and it will forever resonate within me. More than ever, I want to pour my heart and soul into making quality education more accessible to everyone throughout the world, and the work I did at this internship has been the first step towards achieving such a lofty goal.

I am extremely grateful to have been afforded such an opportunity, and I will work to pay it forward by doing as much as I can to better the lives of others in the world, through education as well as through other means.

Some of my students treating me out to some Korean barbecue! (It was delicious)

Kayaking in Ha Long Bay was literally breathtaking!

Me and the other volunteers in the house going out for a late-night boba run!

The camp shirt they gave everyone didn’t fit me, so spotting me isn’t all the hard! This is from the summer camp that I did—it was insanely fun and meaningful.

Me and my friends from the summer camp going out bowling!

I hiked 12 miles in slides, but the views were definitely worth it in Sa Pa!

By Eric Tran

As a part of my internship, we live in a volunteer house with a lot of other people. Because there are so many people to feed the house actually hires cooks to come in twice a day to make us lunch and dinner. Sometimes though, when I want to switch things up, I might go out to eat with friends or even have food delivered to the house. The area our house is in is also residential, and there are street vendors and proper eateries on literally every street, so I can rest assured that I will never go hungry. 

By Tammy Pham

When I was a high school student, everything seemed so confusing when it came to the college application process. My family was not prepared for anything, especially financial aid. Thankfully, I was lucky enough to have amazing teachers and external counselors who guided me through the process.

A lot of students at my old high school go through the same feelings during their junior and senior year. They are not aware of how long the process is, how costly it is, or how much time it would take a student outside of their normal class load. As a result, I wanted to work with the college counseling team at my school to create a summer program.

Most days, a few students come in and ask recent alumni for advice on one of four general topics: SAT, college applications, scholarships, and “how to survive 101”. So far, it’s been a great experience working with these students because a lot of them are siblings of my old friends or I’ve known them growing up.  My favorite memory so far is seeing their growth when it came to SAT testing! One student increased by 4 points after doing multiple practice tests per week for three weeks!

Below is a picture of my old high school! It is a little vacant since I come in one hour early to open the gates and doors for the parents to drop off the kids. I work in my old Statistics classroom. In the photo, you could see some of the doors are open. Teachers come and go, working on their new year’s curriculum or hanging out with kids who are taking summer school.

I have loved being back on campus the past half-summer. I even loved being a ‘teacher’ and having my own set of keys, despite being a student only a year ago even more!

By Hanying Jiang

This summer, I’m working as the program coordinator for the amazing Princeton Summer Journalism Program (PSJP). My office space is located right above the U-Store … in a windowless interview conference room.

It’s not much to look at, but it’s quite cozy. Lydia, my co-worker, and I have grown to appreciate our small space. I work on my laptop, making (what feels like) a million spreadsheets that track the progression of the program planning. In addition, I get to read weekly assignment responses from 38 brilliant high schoolers. They respond to two questions every week regarding five articles about current events and regarding one long-form investigative report in our Required Reading Packet. Most recently, we just finished providing feedback on our students’ personal statement drafts! Even though it’s not a super active job, I thoroughly enjoy the work. I’ve also definitely learned how to write better emails.

In my free time, I also enjoy exploring Princeton and taking hikes! Here’s a map of Baldpate Mountain!

I’ve also started cooking a lot. A friend and I meal prep twice a week and that takes a couple hours out of my day. It’s quite relaxing actually.

And then, I like to crawl into bed and enjoy a chapter of a book. Then, I crash.

My days aren’t super exciting or photogenic, but it’s quite nice to have a set of routine during the summer.