ERICA MCGIBBON

Hometown: Westbury, New York

PiA fellowship position: English teacher and college counselor at The Prince Royal’s College, Chiang Mai, Thailand University: BA Princeton University, EdM Harvard University

Current city: Brooklyn, New York

Favorite book: Some favorites are The Stranger and The Fire Next Time

Tell us about your PiA experience.

On weekday mornings I practiced English reading and vocabulary with kindergarten students. In the afternoons, I taught English grammar and composition to 12th graders. I also offered SAT prep and college application coaching. I expanded my work to consulting services and curriculum development for the Ministry of Education of Thailand.

Having never been to Asia before my PiA experience, I spent my free time exploring my neighborhood. I remember the first few days of feeling overwhelmed by the unfamiliar smells, the vibrant colors, and songthaews whizzing by. And I will never forget the calm of the nighttime and the chorus of geckos in the distance it brought with it. But there were definitely moments of homesickness. A turning point came when I began to develop my family away from home, such as my neighbors on Bumrungras Road, local shopkeepers, the visiting teachers from Australia that worked at my school, other PiA fellows, and even students and families that I am still in touch with today. Some weekends I would wake up and wander for long as I could, which was a lot more daring in the days before Google maps. Within months, I was a person constantly in awe of the life I was living and the person I was becoming. Never really feeling in or out of place and reveling in that wonder.

By the time my students graduated at the end of the school year, I was able to express my well wishes to them and their families in Thai. It was not lost on me that I came to Thailand to serve others through education and ended up learning the skills that made me a more intentional student of life.

What was a memorable experience you had on PiA?

My family is originally from the island of Jamaica, so it was a surreal moment to sit in a crowded reggae bar in Chiang Mai where Thais, expats, and tourists alike were belting out the words to No Woman No Cry and Redemption Song along with a live band. I felt, and still feel, very lucky to have a connection to both places, appreciating the uncanny relationship between the culture I am from and the culture I was discovering.

What are you up to now?

I currently serve as Senior Assistant Dean of Students at Columbia University. In addition to student advising, my work at Columbia focuses on planning and policy for the School’s international dual and joint-degree programs with Sciences Po in France, Trinity College Dublin, and CityU Hong Kong.