In her four years at Augsburg, Chang has participated in the TRiO program and was involved in Scholastic Connections. She’s done research as a McNair Scholar and through the URGO summer program. She’s been a member of the Augsburg Asian Student Association and Link. She also studied abroad, spending a semester in South Korea and teaching English in Thailand with Prof. Kathy Swanson.

For the last two years, Chang was involved in the Phillips Scholar program where she created the “C Project – Cultivating a Caring Community” and provided activities and programming for homeless Hmong refugee children in partnership with Southeast Asian Community Council.

Chang, a biology and English major with a minor in writing, learned about Augsburg through the Upward Bound program in her high school. She has enjoyed the small campus community and the fact that professors and staff take opportunities to get to know students personally. “I feel very alive on campus. There’s always someone you know, someone you pass by who says hello and stops to talk to you.”

In her speech at the May commencement ceremony, Chang will talk about how civic engagement, “…how it’s integrated into our everyday lives and how we live that through our education at Augsburg.”

Chang says that for her, civic engagement means being an active student but also getting involved outside of Augsburg—locally and globally. “It means going out into the community and taking the opportunity to have dialogue with people and to build relationships.”

In her time at Augsburg, Nou Chang has definitely learned a lot about civic engagement. And her commitment is likely to continue after she leaves Augsburg. She is waiting to hear about a Fulbright Scholarship and hopes to teach English in Thailand for a year before applying to medical school.

Wherever she goes, you can bet she’ll be right in the center of the action. Congratulations Nou, and good luck!

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In addition to teaching, the Pfaffs are setting up a fitness center for UIC staff and faculty and are organizing a “fitness challenge” between Augsburg and UIC. She writes, “The AUGGIES are in trouble since the Chinese do not like to lose. I know Carol Enke (Augsburg’s Faculty/Staff fitness coordinator) does not like to lose either so LET THE CHALLENGE BEGIN!”

The Pfaffs have been exploring the city and areas around Zhuhai. Those who know Joyce will not be surprised to learn that she and her husband are staying very active, biking around the city and hiking with a fellow Minnesotan (carrying sticks to fend off the monkeys) outside of Hong Kong.

Yesterday we ventured out to purchase new bicycles. We decided we could not live here for 4 months without wheels, so we made the big splurge. It cost us less than $100 for both of them. We had plenty of help and ended up with 2 very nice, brand new, single speed, fully loaded (basket, bell, lock and kickstand) bikes that have got to weigh 50 pounds each. We went for a 2-hour ride today and both agree that without our bikes we would never be able to see and explore many of the things our new home city of Zhuhai has to offer.

In an Oct. 12 message to her colleagues, Joyce wrote, “We begin our second week of classes today. We (Doug is my teaching assistant) have 2 Fitness classes. When I introduced Doug as my TA and also my husband all of the students laughed, so at least they understood some of what I was saying. I am working on talking slowly (not easy for me), repeating myself and using very simple terms that are easy to understand. I realized early on that I could not use words like “abdominal muscles” and need to say “stomach” instead. The students were listening very intensely but not understanding me.

The first day of classes my class list was printed in Chinese so I had no clue on how to take attendance. Luckily the only person in PE who can speak some English was free and he came in to help me take attendance. Since most of the students have English names, I was able to write those down so things should become easier. My students are actually very nice and extremely polite (as I had originally expected). There are 25 students in each class so that makes is easy.”

ABOUT UIC (from her blog)

UIC (United International College) is a 4-year liberal arts college founded jointly by Bejing Normal University and Hong Kong Baptist University. It is located in Zhuhai, China (just East of Hong Kong and North of Macau). All classes are taught in English. The school begins its fourth year in the fall of 2008 and will have approximately 3,300 students enrolled. This fall 1,200 new first-year students are expected, and they will be graduating their first class of 270 students in the spring of 2009.

At present, the majority of students come from mainland China, but the intention is to recruit more international students to realize a goal of about 50/50 (international/Chinese). The student body is approximately 60% female and 40% male. Although UIC has 13 different majors, 50% of the students are majoring in business.

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A double major in biology and English, Nou sees the CIEE program as an opportunity to learn about the education system and the medical practices of another culture, to interact with Koreans and learn specifically about the people and culture, to attend a prestigious university, and to enhance her overall college experience. In her scholarship application essay she wrote, “The program will contribute to my college experience in that it will make me a more rounded person to go out into the world as an educated leader in the community.”

In her blog, “Seoul: An Asian American perspective of South Korea,” Nou shares her experience, including her reasons for studying in South Korea and the exhilaration and frustration she feels as a U.S. American in another country.

Out of all the places, why South Korea? There’s the pop culture, kimchi, bibimbap…yet, what really drew me to South Korea was its reputation to adopt its children. [The] United States contains the largest Korean adoptee population in the world. My interest in South Korea’s health system as well as its orphanages drew me to explore and understand the Korean culture in a deeper level. So here I am–the motherland. I hope to gain a better understanding of Korea and most importantly I hope this journey will help strengthen my vocation.

Nou writes about her frustration at not being able to understand people or to read the signs but says she is becoming more independent and learning to discipline her spending habits. At the beginning of her experience, she writes, “After being in Seoul for a week, I feel better and more confident in my surroundings. I still feel like I am lost in this big city. There’s so many things to do–touring, shopping, etc–but the problem is that I don’t know any Korean so I can’t ask questions or bargain. I don’t even know how to say ‘where is the bathroom?’!”

She has a ten-minute break between her classes, and they are on opposite sides of the campus separated by a hill with steep steps. She writes that walking up the hill at Yonsei University nearly brings her to tears. “I could use the workout but it’s just that my backpack is so heavy!” She is glad to have packed sturdy tennis shoes but marvels at the women who climb the hills wearing high heels.

Two weeks after her arrival, Nou was visited by Ashley Stoffers, an Augsburg student teaching in English in South Korea on a Fulbright Scholarship. Ashley brought Nou an early birthday present–a “Korean survival package.” Nou wrote that the visit and the gift helped cheer her up after having a “not so good” first couple of weeks.

To complete her program, Nou will create a film documenting her experience and that of other students in South Korea. “I hope to show my peers in the states the daily life of an “American student” studying in South Korea through film…” She hopes to dispel myths surrounding the study abroad experience and that her film will educate potential students and encourage them to pursue study abroad opportunities.

“My film will be proof that a Hmong American student was able to successfully complete a semester away from home with the help of the Gilman Scholarship. I believe that my film will help fuel the Hmong college students’ flame to study abroad. It will also help dissipate any lingering doubts concerning living abroad.”

To read more about Nou’s experience, go to http://nou-southkorea08.blogspot.com/. For information on study abroad, go to www.augsburg.edu/augsburgabroad.

The Gilman International Scholarship Program offers a competition for awards for undergraduate study abroad and was established by the International Academic Opportunity Act of 2000. This scholarship provides awards for U.S. undergraduate students who are receiving federal Pell Grant funding to participate in study abroad programs worldwide. A new $3,000 Critical Need Language Supplement available to students studying a critical need language. The online application is now open to eligible students studying abroad during the Spring 2009 semester. www.iie.org//programs/gilman/index.html

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