Rebecca Donaldson was attending Wauwatosa West High School when two planes crashed into the World Trade Center towers.
Now she's 24 and in the Middle East, at the end of a two-year stint setting up Northwestern University's new campus in Qatar. She's about to embark on her next journey: a research project studying community service in the United Arab Emirates as a Fulbright scholar.
The Fulbright U.S. Student Program, which awards highly coveted grants for international exchange, started announcing its 2010 grant recipients at the end of July and into August.
Donaldson, a Wauwatosa native, is one of six winners announced so far this year who hail from Milwaukee's suburbs or outlying regions. Donaldson is also part of a growing number of North American 20-somethings who are choosing to study abroad and/or live in Muslim and Arab worlds that most of their peers and families only hear about in the news.
Lounging in the Pearl Hotel in Cairo last week, Donaldson chatted over the Internet with a Journal Sentinel reporter about her interests in the Middle East, the work she intends to do as a Fulbright scholar and how, even in Egypt, Brett Favre still ends up being a part of the conversation.
MJS: How did you start getting into issues involving the Middle East?
Donaldson: Since Tosa West, I've had an interest in government and civic issues. After Sept. 11, I think a lot of young people in our generation wanted to develop a better understanding of the Arab and Muslim world. I was able to take a couple classes in college, and then when Northwestern opened up a campus branch in Doha, Qatar, I knew I wanted to work there.
MJS: How old were you on Sept. 11?
Donaldson: I was 15 years old.
MJS: Where were you?
Donaldson: In school, and our principal came on the PA system to make an announcement. As sophomores, we were required to take a class called global studies. Our teacher immediately shifted the unit on the Middle East to start earlier in the curriculum. I think that really helped to humanize the situation.
MJS: What did you do immediately after graduating from Northwestern in 2008?
Donaldson: I went to Qatar three weeks after graduation. I had been job searching all year, as so many students had been, especially that year, with the impending economic crisis and people losing jobs they'd initially been offered. I worked there for two years, and am starting my Fulbright now.
MJS: Explain how you got this additional grant to do the Arabic study. Have you studied Arabic before?
Donaldson: Fulbright, along with other State Department programs, have started offering grants to learn what are deemed "critical languages" - basically languages that are essential to the needs of the U.S. government, not commonly learned in schools. Arabic is one of these, some others are Farsi, Urdu, Dari, various forms of Chinese. So when I applied to the Fulbright program, I also applied for this Critical Language Enhancement Award. I took one semester of Arabic when I was living in Qatar.
MJS: How did you choose your study topic?
Donaldson: When I was in college I became very involved with community service. Through this, I realized I wanted to dedicate the rest of my life to public service. I am fascinated by nonprofit organizations, and what they are able to add to a society. I wanted to learn more about NGOs (non-governmental organizations) in Qatar, but never had the time. Now, in the Emirates, it will be my full-time job to research how volunteerism and civic engagement works there.
MJS: How many hours a day is language school?
Donaldson: We do four hours of class in the morning for 12 weeks, study the rest of the day, and have cultural activities on the weekend and some evenings, which are a required part of the program. One of the best parts is getting to know the other Fulbright students. It's like freshman year of college again - we're all in a dorm, basically, taking classes and opening up to a new part of our lives. Only, everyone has had some major life experience by now.
MJS: Any other Cheeseheads there?
Donaldson: Sadly, no. But three from Minnesota. They ask me if I miss Brett Favre.