Growing up, my mother woke up next to me every day in Peru and said "Buenos dias Meilin." I was born in 1995, in Lima, the capital of Peru. It's a large city with a lot of diversity. I grew up speaking Spanish and sometimes I listened to my dad speak Chinese! I have two younger siblings, a sister and brother; each four years apart from each other. Two years after my sister was born, my family moved to the United States. We moved around a lot and finally settled in New Hampshire. I was confused and alone since I couldn't understand English. I had many tearful nights, but I continued to work hard. Surprisingly, school got easier and after twelve years of school, I was able to attend Wheelock College, where I got my Bachelor's degree in Counseling Psychology and a teaching license for PreK-2nd grade.
In college, I volunteered for Jumpstart, joined clubs and took on leadership roles. I also traveled to New Orleans, South Africa and Nicaragua to do service. I always knew that I wanted to be an educator but during my Wheelock experience, I found a new career field. Fourtunately, I was able to learn that I wanted to travel and collaborate with other professionals to improve education systems. Now that I graduated college, I am excited to serve for Fulbright and eventually get my Master's degree in Comparative International Education.
