Fellowship essays

Fellowship Essays

1_)_P_l_e_a_s_e_ d_e_s_c_r_i_b_e__y_o_u_r_ _f_i_r_s_t_ _y_e_a_r_ _a_c_a_d_e_m_i_c_ _p_e_r_f_o_r_m_a_n_c_e_ _i_n_ _M_A_P_S_—a_n_d_ _a_n_y_ _r_e_l_a_t_e_d_ _i_n_t_e_r_n_s_h_i_p_s_,_ _w_o_r_k_ _e_x_p_e_r_i_e_n_c_e_,_a_n_d_ _r_e_s_e_a_r_c_h_— a_n_d_ _h_o_w_ _t_h_i_s_ _d_e_m_o_n_s_t_r_a_t_e_s_ _y_o_u_r_ _w_o_r_k_ _e_t_h_i_c_,_ _s_e_n_s_e_ _o_f_ _r_e_s_p_o_n_s_i_b_i_l_i_t_y_,_ _a_n_d_ _c_o_m_m_i_t_m_e_n_t_ _t_o_ _h_i_g_h_s_t_a_n_d_a_r_d_s_._ My work experience has always been driven by my ability to care and strive to give back to a community that has been at the cornerstone of historical realities. This community I speak of is the Marshall Islands. Human right concerns is what plagues this community which functioned as a nuclear testing ground between 1946 to 1958 when it was a United Nations Strategic Trust Territory administered by the United States of America. Growing up as a dual citizen, I was uniquely situated to absorb the reality of human right endeavors pioneered by the early framers of the Marshallese constitution and have thus performed superbly at USF under their direction of leadership that they left behind which has set the framework to my human rights ambitions. My commitment to give back to this far neglected community has driven me to be a co-founder to two non-government organizations called Jo-JiKuM and REACH-MI which are focused on raising awareness on Climate Change and the shared nuclear legacy between the Marshall Islands and the United States. I don't usually brag about my accomplishments but I'm proud to say that raising awareness on these two issues through my non-government organizations which I co-founded has led me to several places in my career through national recognition by the Marshall Islands' government. I am also proud to mention that I did my part in giving back to the Marshallese population, where youths comprise a majority, given that 46 percent of the population is under the age of sixteen, after helping secure three years of accreditation for the largest public high school where I taught at. I am now interning at the United Nations, the main global human rights organ, under the Marshall Islands Mission, because it is my passion to make known the human rights concerns that plague the Marshallese people. There is no higher standard than upholding human rights endeavors to give every people an equal chance to be equally dignified and I believe Marshallese people are entitled to this sense of equal dignity as it is a human right perfectly etched in the preamble of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. As the preamble of the Compact of Free Association between the Marshall Islands and the United States perfectly states that the special relationship between the Marshallese government and American government was founded upon respect for human rights, I found myself perfectly positioned as a dual citizen to use academia to further these agreements and commitments while upholding the human rights declaration to the best of my ability. Indigenous rights are human rights and the people of the Marshall Islands are on a quest to be equally recognized as human beings. Having greatly suffered the nuclear legacy of the United States when 67 nuclear bombs were detonated in their territory, there is no

higher standard than upholding human rights' standards and this is why I chose to come to USF and study under the MAPS program with an emphasis in the Humanities. I literally feel that USF has allowed me to fulfill its motto, being “Change the World from Here,” as I am now interning at the UN walking that reality by using the educational trainings I acquired from this reputable educational institution.

2_)_H_o_w_ _w_i_l_l_ _t_h_e_ _s_u_p_p_o_r_t_ _o_f_ _a_ _f_e_l_l_o_w_s_h_i_p_ _h_e_l_p_ _y_o_u_ _a_d_v_a_n_c_e_ _y_o_u_r_ _a_c_a_d_e_m_i_c_,_ _p_e_r_s_o_n_a_l_,_ _a_n_d_ _p_r_o_f_e_s_s_i_o_n_a_l_ _g_o_a_l_s_?_ _H_o_w_ _a_r_e_y_o_u_ _u_n_i_q_u_e_l_y_ _q_u_a_l_i_f_i_e_d_ _f_o_r_ _a_n_y_ _p_a_r_t_i_c_u_l_a_r_ _f_e_l_l_o_w_s_h_i_p_(_s_)_—B_u_n_d_y_,_ _G_i_u_r_l_a_n_i_,_ _I_m_a_m_u_r_a_,_ _M_a_t_t_h_e_w_s_—t_h_a_t_ _y_o_u_ _a_r_e_ _a_p_p_l_y_i_n_g_f_o_r_?_

Academia is a unique avenue to make known the accomplishments of people we are not necessarily that in tune with. As a Marshallese American, I find myself uniquely positioned to research and write on certain topics pertaining to the history of the Marshall Islands given that I have a bit of agency to further their stories and histories. Professionally speaking, I have already accomplished a lot on climate change efforts with government and non-government avenues when I worked as a policy officer at the Office of the President in the Marshall Islands and as a VicePresident to the non-profit Organization Jo-JiKuM which I co-founded. My research has always been driven by the commitment to give back to people who are often not on our radar given their small island developing state status and lack of popularity.

As someone who is an indigenous Marshallese and part Japanese, I find my own identity intertwined with my own goals as this is a reality I cannot escape given my own family history. My grandma’s father was the last director to the Japanese trading company called Nanyo Boeki Kaisha (NBK) which handled the trade in Japan’s Micronesian Empire and I’m uniquely positioned to speak on that part of history that is not often recorded in the history books. Although I don’t confess any special privileges other than being related to them, I am fortunate enough to have my grandma as a primary source to history to help guide me in reviving certain elements of Marshallese, Japanese, and American histories in the Pacific region given that my grandma is living history. I am an aspiring scholar and I want to archive histories that are not yet written, one of them being my grandma’s story. She is the last of what we would say, a chief’s wife (Lejla), and is the last living cultural specimen of arranged marriages where she was arranged and taken since birth to become a chief’s wife. She would later become first lady and her husband the first president. It is ironic that her husband's life has overshadowed my own grandma’s legacy. The great Malcolm X once stated that if you are convinced that you never did anything, you will never be able to do anything. It is this saying that has convinced me that academia and research is essential to preserve the accomplishments of women in the Marshall Islands, my grandma in particular, who is a commoner, to pave the way to a sense of equal dignity to all Marshallese women, blue blooded or not. It is a unique challenge for Marshallese as we are often told we are not good enough and looked down upon as if we don’t exist or matter. As a co-founder to a

nonprofit organization called REACH-MI, dedicated to spreading awareness on the nuclear legacy in the Marshall Islands, where human rights' concerns still plague the Marshallese community, this reality rings true on all accounts and is strikingly similar to my grandma's neglected history and accomplishments as a Marshallese woman. If people are not equally dignified by having their voices heard in academia, then our efforts to achieving equality are futile for honesty is the best policy and academia is that avenue of transparency that would give a voice for the unheard to be seen in our descriptions of them. This is why I believe a fellowship will further my ambitions in academia to be that much closer in making known the unknown who are equally deserving of being seen and heard in research and academia. As an aspiring scholar, a human rights approach to achieving equal dignity for all is that approach I have situated academia for. Giving academia a greater purpose aside from making money will help me or rather further my professional, personal, and academic goals.