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Why Norway? A leader in peace and conflict negotiation, Norway will give Jessica access to experts and people with first-hand knowledge of extreme poverty in third-world countries.
And the family? “[My husband] Lars is really excited for me and understands how important it is to me to do this,” but he plans to stay here in Minnesota “to pay the bills.” Lars, a former professional tennis player, is now a financial analyst.
Inspiration: Her first teaching job was at LEAP/International Academy in Saint Paul, working in the adult ESL program. “I would talk to students about why they came to the U.S. and if they wanted to stay or return home. I came to see that one of the problems facing developing nations is the brain drain...lots of motivated and educated people leaving and integrating themselves into other societies, raising families, etc. Who is going to be able to pull these poor countries out of poverty if all of these people leave?” |
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Name: Jessica Hjarrand, student, master of arts
in teaching program with an ESL emphasis,
Graduate School of Education
Hometown: Kinderhook, New York, where she
grew up listening to stories from her grandmother,
who came from Lithuania during World War II.
“She would talk about what the family had gone
through as immigrants, and I think that really
instilled in me the desire to be conscious of
what’s going on in the world and of the challenges
people of other cultures are facing.”
Official details: Jessica plans to spend nine
months in Norway studying education and
development and researching how including
multicultural and diversity education in developing countries’ schools could help prevent future conflict
and stabilize current situations. |
Life after the Fulbright: “I think eventually I want to take my research to East Africa. I can see myself working for a consulting firm that works with developing nations to help them create education policies that will help stabilize their countries and regions.” Jessica said she can also see herself doing more teaching in the future. “I think policy-making needs to be connected to real practice to be effective.”
What she stands for: “One of my central beliefs is that if people have hope for the future, they will not embrace violence. The violence comes from a lack of options and not seeing a way to make a better life. Education can provide hope. “We all have a sense of wanting our lives to mean something. And there comes a point in your life when you ask yourself—what do I stand for?”
This article was originally published in the Fall 2006 issue of the Hamline magazine.
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