Benjamin Woodruff, the recipient of the 2018 Kristin Carosella Memorial Fellowship, is now teaching at Menrva Academy – an international Kindergarten in Beijing, China. Ben's assignment includes the instruction of a class of 3-4 year olds with the help of a Chinese teaching team. At the moment, his class consists of 16 kids with the hope of continued growth.
Ben is really enjoying his teaching experience and his time in China and would not have been able to do this without the help of the Carosella family and the Kristin Carosella Memorial Fellowship. The process of going abroad requires a lot of up-front costs in order to get settled in to your new environment, and thanks to the funding he received, Ben was able to fly to Beijing in August and begin finding his footing in a new part of the city. Living and working in Chaoyang (the East side of Beijing) is a new experience for Ben, so having the ability to secure a place to live immediately without worrying about finances was extremely important and has made this new experience very smooth and enjoyable for him.
Ben is grateful to the Carosella family and to the Department of Asian Languages and Cultures and the Department of Anthropology for making this possible.
Below are several pictures from his classroom teaching as well as from their field trip to the Blue Zoo – an aquarium in Beijing.
The Kristin Carosella Memorial Fellowship is a competitive award offered annually. For more information, see the terms of the award on our department website here.
