By Margaret Morey ’25 and Hope Zionts ’26, Global Fellowship Ambassadors
Grinnellians from all academic disciplines have travelled across the world in pursuit of teaching roles.
Last year, Katherine (Katie) Hirschboeck ’23 who is a December graduate from Trempealeau, Wisconsin, taught English in Greece with the Anatolia College High School English Fellowship, which offers a 10-month English as a second language teaching position in the city of Thessaloniki. As a fellow, she assisted in the classroom, created and executed lessons, and provided tutoring to students alongside the primary educator.
Katie’s passion for teaching reflects her academic and professional accomplishments. As a Classics major at Grinnell, Katie spent time critically thinking, creating and presenting arguments, skills essential for an intercultural educator. Meanwhile, her work as a camp counselor gave her “a genuine love for mentorship and working with young people,” which she carried with her to the classroom in Greece.
Katie Hirschboeck ’23
While at Grinnell, Katie studied abroad in Belgrade, Serbia. Demonstrating an early interest in education abroad, Katherine’s coursework during this time focused on the work of high school education as a tool for social change in post-conflict societies. Katie intends to pursue a graduate degree in an area related to her interests. She shares that she is “interested in the role of history education in reshaping collective memory and the work of reconciliation as it centers around interactions between young people” in her future study.
Lucy Jensen ’23
Lucy Jensen ’23, also in Thessaloniki, Greece, was a Gregory Maguire Writing Fellow with the American Farm School from 2023-2025. Originally from New York City, Lucy considers her experience at Grinnell as a Classics major and her study abroad in Athens as important influences leading her to the AFS program. In addition, Lucy shared, “My friends and the global community that Grinnell fosters were strong influences on me. A lot of my friends were also interested in exploring various cultures and new countries. One of my good friends at Grinnell is even from Thessaloniki! Overall, both my classes and the Grinnell community inspired me to step outside of my comfort zone and move abroad to teach.”
Lucy recommends flexibility and openness to anyone considering teaching abroad. She commented, “even though these kinds of cultural shocks/shifts can be daunting, it can also be fascinating to embrace these changes and see where they lead you.”
This fall, Lucy is attending the Courtauld Institute of Art in London to pursue a master’s program in Art History. Though she won’t be pursuing a career as an educator, she noted “I will certainly apply everything that I learned from this program to my future studies and career.”
Also teaching abroad in 2024-2025 is Zade Mullin ’24, who secured a position through the Japanese Exchange and Teaching (JET) program as an English language assistant in Kasaoka, Japan. The JET program is a competitive opportunity to teach English for exceptional students around the globe who have a deep interest in Japan. The aim of the program is to improve language education and promote internationalization at a local level through bringing native speakers to the country to teach English. Each day, Zade worked with the lead high school English teacher with students from 10th– 12th grade, sometimes even leading the class himself.
“I value the opportunity to meet people in a completely different culture from my own, and to be immersed in that culture,” he shares. “It really feels like something entirely different from anything I’ve experienced before, and that makes it incredibly exciting.” Zade enjoyed his experience so much, he has continued for a second year.
Zade Mullin ’24
Genevieve Martinez, ’24, a Sociology and Spanish double major from Madison, Wisconsin taught in Andalucia, Spain through the North American Language and Culture Assistants Program (NALCAP) in 2024-2025. She shared, “Honestly, I have really loved having the opportunity to be in Spain, it is a beautiful country with such a warm accepting community. I have learned so much about Spanish culture living in Andalucia (the South of Spain), along with the cultures of other countries I have been able to travel to like France, Hungary, Portugal, Italy, and the Netherlands.”
Genevieve Martinez ’24
The NALCAP places college graduates from the United States in cities and towns across Spain to serve as teaching assistants and cultural ambassadors. As a Spanish major, one of Genevieve’s primary goals for the program was to continue to immerse herself in the language. She also coached the children’s swimming team, Grinnell Tiger Sharks, and enjoys working with children, which she has been able to continue to do through the program.
She also considers her position an important continuation of her academic major and of her personal values. She reflected, “at Grinnell we reflect a lot about acceptance and understanding of people, cultures and identities that are different than our own, and especially as a Soc major a lot of my coursework focused on this. However, in my opinion it’s lived experience and exposure that curates true acceptance and understanding, both of which I have enjoyed during my time abroad.”
In June, Genevieve started an MS in Curriculum and Instruction, focused on World Language at UW Madison, and plans to teach middle or high school Spanish or ESL.
Finally, Brian Prussman ’24, a native of Muscatine, Iowa, spent the 2024-2025 year with the Teaching Assistant Program in France (TAPIF). Brian taught in a middle school in Mulhouse, a city 20 minutes away from the border with Switzerland. As a French major, Brian’s Grinnell coursework and interactions with professors inspired him to apply for the TAPIF program. He noted that, “hearing about TAPIF in my French classes from professors and studying different aspects of language education with Prof. Cori Jakubiak greatly helped to cement my decision.”
Though he studied abroad in France as a third year, the program brought with it some unexpected experiences. He shared that, “I think the most surprising aspect of my experience has been the amount of independence we are given, both in terms of our professional role in the classroom but also in our everyday life. The TAPIF program…left us with a lot of space to build our own lives in France, which was definitely hard work but was also really rewarding in the end.” He is now back in Iowa with the Education Department’s Teacher Ed Program, where he is student-teaching at Iowa City West High School and will obtain his Iowa teaching license in French and ESL.
Brian Prussman ’24
Despite widely varying experiences and diverging personal and professional paths, each of these Grinnellians found fulfillment in teaching roles, each inspired in different ways by their time at Grinnell.
For those interested in global teaching there are many resources available: Chad Berman, Education Professions+ Career Community Director, Ann Landstrom, Assistant Dean and Director of Global Fellowships and Awards, and faculty in Grinnell’s language departments.
