Grantee

Meredith graduated from Washington University in St. Louis with majors in English Literature and Music and a minor in Linguistics. After college Meredith spent a year serving with AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps, completing service projects across the United States including environmental restoration in Washington State, income tax assistance in Los Angeles, and nonprofit work in rural Montana. Meredith’s first visit to Nepal was in 2019, when they spent three months exploring the country as part of a gap year. They had the opportunity to live with Nepali families in Koshi Tappu and Patan while learning about the Nepali language, religion, and history and how to play Nepali sarangi. Meredith has worked for many years as a tutor and violin teacher and loves helping students reach their potential.  

Bryce completed both his undergraduate and graduate studies at Tulane University. While both his degrees focused on the fields of science and public health, he has actively pursued opportunities to be trained in the field of education. He has received endorsement to teach English as a second language from the Tulane School of Professional Advancement, along with the Certificate in English Language Teaching to adults (CELTA) from Cambridge University. He has previously volunteered with two schools in Nepal to teach supplementary educational programs. He has also been actively involved with the NGO Empower Nepali Girls for several years to support their mission of women’s empowerment and access to education.

Claire graduated from the University of California, Davis in 2019 and worked in higher education student affairs policy for 2.5 years. Upon realizing how much she missed interacting with young people, she pursued and received her Master’s of Education and Secondary English teaching credential from the University of California, Santa Barbara in June 2023. Prior to teaching in Nepal, she taught English at Guangxi Normal University in Guilin, China for one semester in pursuit of her mission to use teaching English for cultural exchange to foster a more compassionate world. She has learned a lot from her students in China and cannot wait to see what more she will learn from her students in Nepal.

Dwight, a recipient of the Chancellor’s Scholarship at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, pursued both his undergraduate and Master’s degrees there. He developed a passion for education through teaching experiences spanning Pre-K to 12th grade, as well as through graduate assistantships. His first assistantship involved leading high school students in a sustainability research project, while his second focused on coordinating professional learning for Code.org teachers and researching computer science education trends during the Covid-19 pandemic. Dwight has also taught at Lincoln Public Schools as a reading interventionist at the elementary level and an academic support teacher at the Pathfinder program within a juvenile detention center. Kindness, compassion, and empathy are at the root of his teaching methods and goals. He is very excited to teach English as a second language (ESL) in Nepal and learn from students and fellow teachers.

Jina earned her Bachelor’s degree in English along with a Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) Certificate from the University of Michigan-Flint in 2022. Previously, she has worked in local schools in the USA, supporting immigrant students in developing language and cultural fluency. Growing up in an immigrant family and sharing ties to two different homelands (India and the USA) has instilled in her a deep regard for all people and places, and she is eager to learn whatever else Nepal has to teach her during her 10-month stay.