Hi! My name is Megan Herzog and I am currently a sophomore majoring in Linguistics with minors in English and Asian Language and Literature (I speak Korean). I’m also working towards getting my TESL Certificate as well so that I have some teaching background when I graduate. Over the course of this year, I mentored 21 international first-year students to help them through their transition to college in a new country. Getting to know each of them was an absolute joy and even though they frustrated me at times, listening to their stories and being able to see them grow was an amazing experience. Next year, I’ll be working as a communications team leader for the Office of Student Experience on campus (basically doing marketing and social media jobs) as well as working as a consultant in the Writing Center. In the future, I want to teach English abroad in South-Eastern Asia for a few years before returning to the US and hopefully working in adult learning centers with immigrants and refugees. Maybe I’ll end up getting a Masters degree in teaching, who knows at this point!
Typically, I don’t like to step too far out of my comfort zone. I’m a pretty picky eater and it doesn’t help that I’m also vegetarian and allergic to tomatoes! I tend to stick to what I know works and only venture outside of my typical zone if I’m confident in what I’m doing and I know it will turn out well. I hope that through this trip I will be able to overcome a lot of that fear of the unknown and just have to trust my gut when it comes to things. I think if I just let go and let things happen as they will I’ll be a lot happier. I’m such a planner though it’s hard for me to let go of the reigns!
As I want to go into education in the future, I’m most interested in the education sectors of foreign countries and in particular, South-East Asia. I think that that my main goal is to have a deeper understanding of the cultural influence on the school environment and policy. I already have a slight background in pedagogy and intercultural communication so I’m interested to compare what I’ve learned through coursework and what is actually going on out in the world. I think getting this type of hands-on experience will really help me in the future and give me unique insight into the world of teaching abroad.
