Ciera Fleming (IPA ’12) took to college with her the values and emphasis on student engagement that characterized her life as a student at ISLAND PACIFIC ACADEMY. Having completed a bachelor’s degree in Organizational Studies at Pitzer College this spring, she has been awarded a Fulbright U.S. Student Program grant, which will take her to Malaysia. There she will expand her knowledge of Malaysian culture and volunteer her service teaching English. When she gets back, she will have a job waiting for her at Google.
Pitzer has the largest number per capita of student acceptances for the Fulbright grant program. Fleming believes that the emphasis the college places on social responsibility and multiculturalism explains the college’s success.
In fact, Fleming was attracted to Pitzer because she saw her ISLAND PACIFIC ACADEMY experience mirrored in the college’s core values: social responsibility, intercultural understanding, interdisciplinary learning, student engagement, and environmental sustainability. While she intends to complete an MBA one day, she chose the interdisciplinary option of Organizational Studies major with a minor in Economics as a way to bring many disciplines to her interest in a career in business and marketing.
Fleming will begin her 10-month Fulbright program in January as an assistant teacher of English in middle and high school grades, working with students in the classroom and helping to design curriculum. She will also work with students in extracurricular clubs and activities that foster leadership and creativity.
An internship with Google during her last year at Pitzer led to being hired immediately after graduation as an Associate Account Strategist, helping small businesses to optimize their on-line advertising with Google. Google has agreed to give her a leave of absence for a year in order to accept the Fulbright grant, which was awarded after she had already begun working at Google.
By the time Fleming heads to Malaysia she will have had two other experiences in teaching overseas. She will volunteer in Japan this summer, leading week-long empowerment workshops in high schools. A study abroad program in Italy involved community service, and she taught English in a high school there. “That was an amazing opportunity,” she says. “Teaching allowed me to gain an even deeper understanding of Italian language and culture through my interaction with the students. I’m excited to have a similar experience in Malaysia.”
Student engagement and community involvement were hallmarks of Fleming’s time at ISLAND PACIFIC ACADEMY. She was active in student government at IPA, becoming the student body president in her senior year, and was instrumental in founding the student group that brings the Blood Bank to the campus each year. After a very successful student government food drive in her senior year, the Hawaii Food Bank asked her to be a speaker at their celebration breakfast, at which Fleming highlighted the IPA motto “Whenever You Can, Help.”
We look forward to sharing news and photos from her Fulbright experience next spring.
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