When Felix Thompson ’24 applied for a Fulbright scholarship to teach in a distant land, he knew the challenges and rewards of being immersed in a new culture.
One summer during his college years, Thompson taught English and tennis in Burkina Faso, a French-speaking landlocked country in West Africa. It was the culmination of two years of preparation that included collecting donations and sports equipment for one of that nation’s Youth National Tennis Championship club teams.
“Walking out of the airport, I knew I was entering a different world,” Thompson noted. “But nothing quite prepares you for the 90-degree heat and sand blowing around your head, surrounded by bustling people you can’t quite understand after you’ve been flying across the world for 15 hours without any sleep.”
The Fulbright award will enable Thompson, who graduated with a degree in public policy and law, to travel and work in a different landlocked country: Tajikistan. And, that flight will likely be about 20 hours longer than the one to Burkina Faso.
“I dealt with the anxiety of being in a different place and learned how to function well,” said Thompson, of Wayland, Massachusetts. “Trinity was the right place for me academically that would also push me toward success.”
Located in Central Asia and surrounded by Afghanistan, China, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, Tajikistan will be Thompson’s home from August 2024 through June 2025.
While his experience in Burkina Faso was focused on leading tennis clinics for youth ages 7 to 14, his time in Tajikistan will focus more on the English language coursework in an Embassy-controlled area. However, the end goal is the same. Thompson would like to ultimately find his place with the U.S. State Department.
