After graduating from Bates, Jacqueline Coraci ’26 moved far away — 5,526 miles away from Lewiston, to be exact, to Yaoundé, Cameroon. 

It was a bit vertiginous, then, to find herself chatting and reminiscing about life at Bates with Helena Raddock ’24 while they explored Cameroon in September. The two hadn’t known each other as students; they had met just before boarding a flight from New York City to Paris, the first leg of three to get them to Yaoundé, where Coraci would be an English teaching assistant (ETA) with the Fulbright student program. 

In a lucky twist of fate, Raddock, who had recently finished her first year as a Fulbright ETA in Kigali, Rwanda, was going to be Coraci’s Fulbright mentor. Both were thrilled by the Batesie connection. “Thank you Robert Strong,” Coraci wrote in her first email to Raddock, a nod to Bates’ director of national fellowships who oversees the college’s Fulbright application process. Last spring, Coraci was one of 16 Bates alumni to be offered Fulbright student awards for the 2026-2027 year.

Raddock, who majored in politics, is spending a second year in Kigali as the mentor for Fulbright ETAs in Cameroon, Rwanda, and Botswana, a role she was inspired to pursue after developing a close friendship with her own mentor last year.

“I try to fill in the emotional gaps because, as a first-year ETA, you’re getting an onslaught of health and security information, briefings from the embassy, public diplomacy leads,” Raddock said. “I find my role is to try and make it as digestible as possible and to incorporate a little bit of humor.”

That day at New York’s JFK Airport, emotions were indeed heightened — Coraci had just said goodbye to her mom and was steeling herself for the 48-hour journey ahead — but the two Bates alumni became fast friends.

“When I saw Helena in the airport, it really made me feel some certain type of joyful way,” Coraci, who majored in French and Francophone studies, said. Raddock was by Coraci’s side throughout her first days in the Fulbright program, and Coraci returned the favor by translating for Raddock in Cameroon, where the primary language spoken is French. 

“We clicked immediately,” Raddock says. “There’s so much to talk about and so much about Bates we can bond over. We have a lot in common as well, which I think speaks to what a Batesie is, what we’re passionate about.”

Raddock said that her leadership experience at Bates in the Harward Center for Community Partnerships and the Center for Purposeful Work prepared her for the mentorship role, which she was so eager to pursue that she deferred her acceptance to graduate school for the opportunity.

“When I heard about the mentorship program, I just had this gut feeling that my work wouldn’t be done because we have such an incredible opportunity to create this connection between the U.S. and Rwanda,” Raddock says. “I believe so strongly in the impact of the programs.”

Upon arriving in Cameroon, she led an orientation for Coraci and her co-ETA Afiwa Afandalo, giving presentations on managing classrooms, developing relationships with host teachers, and engaging students. The three of them also attended a 35 Under 35 award event at the American Embassy in Yaoundé, celebrating achievements in technology, entrepreneurship, science, creativity, and community leadership among young Cameroonians.

Raddock administered similar orientation sessions for the new ETAs Rwanda, in addition to helping them with personal administrative tasks such as setting up phone plans and searching for housing, and will do the same for the ETAs in Botswana, set to arrive in January. As a Fulbright mentor, Raddock also gets to continue her work as a secondary school ETA and facilitator of courses on business English, public speaking, and professional development at the American Center, part of the American Embassy in Kigali. She has become deeply integrated into the local community, making friends through work and a hiking club she steadfastly attends.

“I had such a special and unique experience,” Raddock said. “I loved teaching at my school so much. I love that I get to be with my students for a second year and watch them evolve.”

Coraci, who is the first Bates alumnus to work as a Fulbright ETA in Cameroon, chose to pursue the English teaching assistantship because of the country’s Francophone culture and reputation as “Africa in miniature,” a nod to its diverse geographical landscape and the 250 languages spoken within its borders. 

“It’s definitely been both equally the most challenging thing I’ve ever done in my life but also one of the coolest, most enriching, interesting experiences as well,” Coraci said.

Bates equipped Coraci well for this experience, she said. Her French language skills, honed through courses at Bates and a year spent studying in France and Senegal, have been a tremendous asset in navigating her new home. Her semester of student teaching, which she completed in Auburn, Maine, as part of her Bates teacher education minor, prepared her well for managing a classroom — even one that can have up to 80 students, as is often the case at her secondary school in Yaoundé.

“I’ve surprised myself because when I look at that giant room of students, it’s actually not overwhelming,” Coraci said. “It’s not daunting to me. I feel like I can do it.”

Like Raddock, Coraci has joined a local hiking group that has become an important part of her social structure.

“In fact, I will be joining my hiking group tomorrow, bright and early,” Raddock said during a three-person Zoom interview across three countries. “Me too!” Coraci chimed in. Even though they have been thousands of miles apart since Raddock left Yaoundé to return to Kigali, the two are still connecting over their shared interests and Bates connection. They will reunite in February, when Raddock heads back to Yaoundé to visit Coraci’s school, and again in the spring for the Sub-Saharan Africa Fulbright conference in Dakar, Senegal.

“Even though we’re actually really far away from each other, we will end up spending a lot of quality time together,” Raddock said.

After their shared year abroad, Coraci plans to return to her home state of New York to start work as an elementary school teacher. Raddock will attend Tufts University for a master’s degree in law and diplomacy.