Every year, the David C. Pollock Scholarship brings new voices to the FIGT conference. Please welcome the six FIGT2020 Scholars who will be carrying on David Pollock’s legacy to support and develop global-minded, intercultural souls.
FIGT is excited to announce the FIGT2020 David C. Pollock Scholars.! First-time conference attendees Karla A. Fraser, Jacob Daniel Huff, Asako Noda, Tracy Oyekanmi, Jessi Vance, and Maddie White will be joining us at FIGT2020 to bring their unique expertise and points of view to the discussion.
Each year, the David C Pollock Scholarship provides highly motivated individuals working or studying in the intercultural and transnational mobility fields the opportunity to attend the FIGT conference.
The Scholars “represent a missing voice at FIGT,” explains Scholarship Director Matilda Criel-Ewoldt. “The scholarship is an outright recognition that all voices must be heard.”
Inspired by David Pollock’s tireless support, vision, and dedication to families in global transition, the scholarship epitomizes FIGT’s aim to attract, involve, and educate emerging, global-minded, intercultural souls—all within a safe space for all.
Learn more about the David C. Pollock Scholarship.
The 2020 Pollock Scholars
True to its mission and in line with the FIGT2020 theme “Embracing and Bridging Differences,” the 2020 Scholars come from different realms of the globally mobile community.
Karla A. Fraser is an adult TCK, expat, global educator, educational consultant, expat career coach, and entrepreneur. Karla has lived in six countries (USA, Jamaica, United Arab Emirates, Afghanistan, Commonwealth of Dominica, and Singapore) and has travelled to 45+ others.
In 2019, she founded Roseapple Global, LLC, which provides expat coaching and student administration consulting services. Inspired by her life experiences as a TCK, global work experiences and travels, Karla wants to help others achieve their goals of expat living.
SEE: More from Karla about her commitment to promote awareness of the global diaspora of black and brown people.
Jacob Daniel Huff is an international educator. Growing up, he moved across three different US states and then went from a farm in Arkansas to Vietnam. As an adult, Jacob has lived in four different countries with his Korean-born American wife and their daughter.
Now Elementary Principal at Oasis International School, Kuala Lumpur, he is working on his doctorate in curriculum and instruction. Jacob is fascinated how students develop a sense of identity in an international context and is passionate about helping them develop the skills to thrive in their internationally mobile and multicultural lives.
SEE: More from Jacob about his project on multigenerational TCKs.
Asako Noda is involved in starting up a new international school in Tokyo and implementing children’s creative writing programs in educational institutions. Asako was born in Singapore and grew up in the UK. She did not fully identify as a “returnee” when she moved to Japan and only discovered many years later that she may have been a TCK.
Asako is passionate about creating an environment of better understanding towards a more diverse Japanese society. She is currently a trainer at an international NGO which organizes children’s cross-cultural camps.
Tracy Oyekanmi is a marketing communications professional with over a decade of experience working with multicultural teams across Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and Africa. She hosts the “Visible At Work” podcast, where she shares practical insights and brings guests to discuss their experiences of working abroad. Her goal is to help professionals develop communication skills to navigate their workplace in a new country.
Tracy is rounding up her master’s degree in strategic communication at La Salle University, Philadelphia, while living with her family in Vancouver.
SEE: More from Tracy about her passion to support professionals working abroad and to spread awareness about globally mobile professionals from Africa.
Jessi Vance grew up in Central Asia, graduated from Hope International University (Fullerton, CA 2013) with a specialized degree in Third Culture Kid Care and is uniquely equipped to connect with and advocate for a growing, culturally confused population.
In 2013, Jessi founded Kaleidoscope, a non-profit committed to seeing third culture kids not just survive but thrive. She's currently based in New York and survives on a steady diet of airplane food and coffee.
SEE: More from Jessi about her upbringing and how faith is an important part of the TCK conversation.
Maddie White is an adult TCK who was born in the US and grew up in Fiji, Australia, Thailand, and South Africa, before returning to the US as a teen. She currently works at Smith College Special Collections as their Processing Archivist.
Maddie is particularly interested in documenting and preserving the histories of TCKs who are non-white, disabled, LGBTQIA+, and/or non-Western. She believes community archiving could help foster belonging in the TCK community, through storytelling and a connection to our history.
SEE: More from Maddie about her aspiration to document and preserve the histories of underrepresented TCKs.
Congratulations and welcome to all! We look forward to meeting and learning more from you.
For the Scholars’ full bios, please see Introducing the David C Pollock Scholars 2020.
Support the Scholarship!
Each year at conference, we hold a Lucky Draw to raise funds for future Scholars. We hope many of you will support our Pollock Scholarship Fund and take part! The Scholars will be selling tickets during FIGT2020—so do say hello to the Scholars and get your tickets from them.
We are also happily accepting donations for the Lucky Draw, such as books, coaching sessions, and workshops. The Lucky Draw provides a great platform for people to hear about your services and raises funds for a good cause—continuing the Pollock Scholar legacy!
Please contact Matilda Criel-Ewoldt, Scholarship Chair, for further information at scholarship@figt.org.
