2014 Fulbright recipients: Amy Strada
Amy Strada ’14 is a 2014 recipient of a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship. (Sarah Crosby/Bates College)
An English major at Bates, Amy Strada ’14 of North Salem, N.Y., received a 2014 Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship for the Czech Republic.
As director of operations for the Bates debate team, Strada made it her mission to make first-year students feel like welcome contributors to the group effort. “Ensuring cohesion and a good team dynamic” was imperative, Strada says — “much in the way that I bridged my Czech background with my American one.
“I simply wanted to merge two groups of people into one.”
Strada explains, “I’ve come to learn that leading calls for a harmonious balance of softness and strength. This equilibrium is something I truly value in teaching, and it is something I will continue to apply to my role as a teacher.”
Ultimately, her assistantship in the Czech Republic will “allow me to open up a dialogue with my community about local politics and issues that would be otherwise unknown.”
Strada expects to take her knowledge of cultural exchange and teaching to her next position, be it working as a journalist or teaching English as the college level.
