Gillian Mak ’18 has been awarded a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship to Malaysia. Mak explained why she chose Malaysia for her teaching. “First, I have a family connection. My grandmother moved to the United States for college, and we still have a significant amount of family there-- though I have never visited,” she said.
As a world politics major, Mak said she’s most interested in East and Southeast Asia. “I worked on that region at the State Department, and wrote my thesis on the Philippines, so I find the region fascinating.”
Major: World Politics
Hometown: Mount Juliet, Tenn.
High School: Wilson Central High School
Campus Activities: Student Assembly Vice President, Co-Founder Asian Student Association
Last summer she interned at the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, Office of Public Diplomacy in Washington. During her spring 2017 semester on Hamilton’s Program in Washington, D.C. she was elections intern at non-profit APIAVote.
At Hamilton, Mak is co-founder and served as programming chair of the Asian Student Association. She served as vice president in 2017 and for two terms as secretary for Student Assembly.
Mak is a team leader for Hamilton’s Levitt Center and represented Hamilton on the HELIO program in Hiroshima, Japan in fall, 2017. She is also an 1812 Ambassador for Hamilton’s Advancement Office.
The Fulbright ETA Program places U.S. students as English teaching assistants in schools or universities overseas, thus improving foreign students’ English language abilities and knowledge of the United States while increasing their own language skills and knowledge of the host country. Sponsored by the U.S. Department of State, the Fulbright is the largest U.S. international exchange program.
