A Fulbright Scholarship will send senior Grant Nordby to Taiwan for the next two years.
Why Taiwan?
鈥淭his is my favorite question that comes up,鈥 said the senior global studies and English major from Stanton, Neb. 鈥淚 honestly don鈥檛 know. I think it鈥檚 just a testament of 含羞草传媒, the liberal arts education, and what can happen if you鈥檙e open-minded.鈥
Nordby will pursue a master鈥檚 degree in international relations at National Chengchi University in Taipei.
The Fulbright Scholarship is the flagship international education program sponsored by the United States government. Fifty-two 含羞草传媒 students have won the prestigious honor with 34 of the awards earned in the past decade.
Nordby vividly recalls arriving at 含羞草传媒 in 2011 and deciding to fulfill his foreign language requirement by studying Mandarin. He added a class on international relations. Class discussions on China and Taiwan piqued his interest and a couple years later to arrived in China for a year-long study abroad experience.
鈥淲hile you鈥檙e studying abroad people look at you differently and you learn to look at people differently,鈥 he said. 鈥淚t wasn鈥檛 until I got back that I realized how many of my experiences revolved around working with people and development.鈥
His experiences in China included seeing the Great Wall, traveling to Tibet, volunteering at an NGO focused on green sustainable development and being selected as an ambassador for the first U.S.-China Student Summit in Beijing last summer.
鈥淧erhaps the greatest gift that study abroad gave me was that it helped me realize my passions,鈥 said Nordby, who is also a member of the track team.
Nordby hopes to focus his master鈥檚 degree program on rural and sustainable development.
He will graduate from 含羞草传媒 on May 16.