Bryn Mawr College
Major: Political Science
Minor: Spanish
At Emerson: Kindergarten through 12th grade - Class of 2017

Current Status: Dorian has been awarded a prestigious Fulbright Scholarship to Mexico. Dorian had been looking into fellowships, and the Fulbright program caught her attention as a post-grad opportunity during her junior year at Bryn Mawr. The Fulbright English Teaching Assistant program in Mexico is providing Dorian with the language and cultural immersion she’s been seeking.

Dorian was placed in Pachuca, about an hour and a half from Mexico City, a region she requested after having fallen in love with it during a fast trip there to teach jump rope for a week in the Fall of 2017 after graduating from Emerson. The trip sparked Dorian’s desire to return, and now the Fulbright program is providing that opportunity. 

Dorian works as an English Teaching Assistant at the Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Hidalgo, working in the Licenciatura en Enseñanza de La Lengua Inglesa. In this program, students study to become English teachers. In addition to her classroom work helping with speaking and writing activities, she also leads a conversation club with topics ranging from pop culture to music as a means of political resistance. 

Along with teaching prospective teachers, Dorian also started a jump rope club at the university. Her teaching position and the club are funded by the US Department of State and jointly supported by COMEXUS, a bi-national commission that manages Fulbright grants in Mexico. The club is a tool to facilitate intercultural exchange. Dorian aims to share American culture and learn about Mexican culture through music and dance, using jump rope as a medium.

Dorian says jump rope was a significant part of her identity growing up, having started jumping competitively at age 10 and continuing for eight years. Now, after a hiatus of 6 years, Dorian is excited to re-engage with something that had once been such a big part of her life.

When Dorian traveled to Mexico in 2017, she went as a World Jump Rope Ambassador. During that trip, just walking around the city, she and her companions came upon some buskers jumping Double Dutch. Dorian describes an unspoken exchange that resulted in them being invited in to join the jumping. They were taught new moves and, in turn, shared their skills. Dorian hopes the new jump rope club provides a similar opportunity for cultural exchange.

Another connection from Dorian’s life in the States has evolved into a passion project during her time in Mexico. While she was an undergrad at Bryn Mawr, she interned with The Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society of Pennsylvania (HIAS PA), an immigration advocacy non-profit that provides social and legal services as well as educational outreach for refugee resettlement and immigration in the Philadelphia area. Now, she’s building a collaboration between Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Hidalgo and HIAS PA. HIAS PA’s Adult Education Program offers English language tutoring, which inspired Dorian to connect some of her most advanced students to offer virtual tutoring to HIAS PA’s clients. 

Law school is Dorian’s next stop next fall, but first, she is excited to take advantage of this opportunity to live and work in Mexico for nine months, from August 2023 through May 2024. The Fulbright program is providing Dorian with an opportunity to immerse herself in a new culture, teach English, and share her passion for jump rope, all while preparing for her future career in public interest law.