{"671551":{"#nid":"671551","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Julia Chen: Bridging Generations and Languages","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EAt two years old, Julia Chen learned her first words in Chinese from her grandmother.\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cSpeaking Mandarin became part of my identity, this cool little superpower,\u201d she says.\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EJulia will graduate from Georgia Tech in December with a bachelor\u2019s degree in International Affairs and Modern Languages, with a focus in Chinese studies. This spring, she will study advanced Chinese on a Fulbright-Hays Group Projects Abroad scholarship at Tamkang University in Taiwan.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EAs serendipity would have it, that\u2019s the same place her grandmother studied English over 50 years ago, before emigrating to the U.S.\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EHer family has been in the U.S. since her parents were children, so Julia says her experience of studying Chinese has been \u201cvery much from an American perspective.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cI feel like people think that I\u2019m going \u2018back\u2019 to Taiwan, but I don\u2019t have the same connection as someone who was born there or with family there would have,\u201d she said.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EStudying Chinese abroad is a lifelong goal of Julia\u2019s. She credits Associate Professor \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/iac.gatech.edu\/people\/person\/paul-foster\u0022\u003EPaul Foster\u003C\/a\u003E in the School of Modern Languages with encouraging her to pursue her Chinese studies and the Fulbright-Hays.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cI\u2019m very grateful to Dr. Foster for suggesting this opportunity,\u201d she says. \u201cI\u2019ve studied Chinese for a long time and even translated for the U.S. State Department, but I would still not say I\u2019m anywhere near fluent.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThat fluency will be key to the future Chen is building for herself. In the fall, she plans to start work for international strategy consultancy EY-Parthenon, where she has interned.\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cMy dream is to do work that helps ease U.S.-China relations and to aid the U.S. in its campaign to protect Taiwan,\u201d she says.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EWith future interests in attending law school and pursuing a career in international law concerning national security issues, she hasn\u2019t yet pinned down exactly where the future will take her. Her experience in the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs has taught her that\u2019s not a bad thing.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cIvan Allen College students work just as hard, but our path might be less linear than our friends in STEM fields,\u201d she says. \u201cHow do you get into government? You have to network, build some kind of foundation. You have to create your own pathway in.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EAnd if that pathway begins in the same place her grandmother\u2019s did so many years before, it has to be a good sign.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cI think the most wonderful thing I\u2019ve learned at Tech is that life isn\u2019t linear,\u201d she says. \u201cI know that having many areas of interest isn\u2019t something that\u2019s going to impede me, that I don\u2019t need to narrow them down to one thing.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EOne piece of advice she\u2019d share with her fellow Yellow Jackets who haven\u2019t yet crossed the stage?\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cI help a lot of my friends practice interviewing. I think Tech students work so hard, and their response to every challenge is to work harder. I really admire that, but interviews are just conversations.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EAnd conversations, whether in English or Mandarin, are what Julia does best.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"Georgia Tech Graduate Receives Fulbright-Hays Scholarship to Study at Grandmother\u2019s Alma Mater"}],"field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EJulia Chen will graduate from Georgia Tech in December with a bachelor\u2019s degree in International Affairs and Modern Languages, with a focus in Chinese studies. This spring, she will study advanced Chinese on a Fulbright-Hays Group Projects Abroad scholarship at Tamkang University in Taiwan \u2014 the same place her grandmother studied English over 50 years ago.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"This spring, Georgia Tech graduate Julia Chen will study advanced Chinese on a Fulbright-Hays scholarship \u2014 at the same university where her grandmother studied English over 50 years ago."}],"uid":"35777","created_gmt":"2023-12-12 22:32:52","changed_gmt":"2023-12-12 22:37:10","author":"Stephanie Kadel","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2023-12-12T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2023-12-12T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"672569":{"id":"672569","type":"image","title":"Georgia Tech graduate Julia Chen and her grandmother","body":"\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Tech graduate Julia Chen, IAML 2023, and her grandmother.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","created":"1702420384","gmt_created":"2023-12-12 22:33:04","changed":"1702482969","gmt_changed":"2023-12-13 15:56:09","alt":"a headshot of Georgia Tech graduate Julia Chen and a photo of her grandmother","file":{"fid":"255836","name":"Copy of Copy of 16x9 headshot template (2).png","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2023\/12\/12\/Copy%20of%20Copy%20of%2016x9%20headshot%20template%20%282%29.png","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2023\/12\/12\/Copy%20of%20Copy%20of%2016x9%20headshot%20template%20%282%29.png","mime":"image\/png","size":176161,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2023\/12\/12\/Copy%20of%20Copy%20of%2016x9%20headshot%20template%20%282%29.png?itok=0a0tU1uM"}}},"media_ids":["672569"],"groups":[{"id":"1281","name":"Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts"},{"id":"1285","name":"Sam Nunn School of International Affairs"},{"id":"1284","name":"School of Modern Languages"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"193354","name":"2023 Fall Commencement"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:stephanie.kadel@gatech.edu\u0022\u003EStephanie N. Kadel\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nIvan Allen College of Liberal Arts\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["stephanie.kadel@gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}