Once upon a time I was an undergraduate student at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. It was the year 1991 and I had just finished a year of study abroad in Pecs, Hungary at Janus Pannonius University
Originally I had planned to go to Hungary for one semester, but the experience was so interesting (and challenging) I decided to spend the entire year.
It was a critically important decision in my life and career. Spending a full year in Hungary allowed me to do a deep dive into the context, culture and actually develop very strong Hungarian Language skills.
I had amazing professors who took me on all sorts of interesting journeys including doing research on economic development opportunities with Romani populations in rural Hungary, spending time in Transylavnia and more.
But this post isn’t so much about my study abroad. It is about when I returned and the power of a single mentor to impact one’s life. Upon starting my senior semester, I met with the director of the study abroad office at the university to talk about my experience. She brought up the idea of why don’t I apply for a Fulbright Student Fellowship.
At first I thought she was a bit crazy as I was just a lowly senior and what did I have to offer the world?
But she persisted (a good mentor is like that) and eventually I did some research and decided it sounded like a good idea.
I put together my application and had my interview with the faculty committee on campus. I was I the last interviewee of the day and I thought I bombed the process as they looked so tired and uninterested.
To my surprise, I passed the first phase of the process and my application was sent on for the second stage. I eventually was selected and upon graduation went back to Hungary on a Fulbright Junior Scholarship. I wound up spending two years (I was fortunate to renew for a second year) and did all sorts of interesting things including applied research, improving my Hungarian, co-founding an NGO working with youth from Hungary’s 13 identity groups, secured funding for the NGO from a host of donors, ran a whole bunch of programs and much more.
This was my first fellowship experience and being able to spend two years fully funded to do interesting work was life-changing. The experience, skills, and networks developed were incredible and I got the fellowship bug.