By Rowan Walrath, news correspondent
During his time at Northeastern, James Eggers was briefly an athlete, worked as an intern with the Secret Service and as a special assistant at Boston’s Portuguese Consulate before graduating as an international affairs major.
As a Northeastern alumnus, he helped found the MMXI Undergraduate Scholarship in 2011. Now a recent graduate of the University of Pennsylvania’s Master of Science in Education program, Eggers works with Teach For America (TFA) in a ninth-grade special education classroom in Philadelphia.
Beginning next spring, Eggers will be a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant. He will spend nine months in a college classroom in Brazil, teaching English and serving as a United States cultural ambassador. The Huntington News spoke with Eggers about his influences, interests and goals for the future.
Q: What was your experience like at Northeastern?
A: My experience was absolutely incredible. I was originally recruited as a varsity track and field athlete, but I ended up injuring my knee and had to focus more on my grades.
Q: Did any specific classes or professors influence you?
A: I had a professor my freshman year, Rajini Jesudason, who really told me that I was capable of doing a lot more than I was doing. She motivated me to work a lot harder, take on more responsibilities. With that, I was able to do a lot of co-ops. I met two presidents; I traveled to six different countries. My favorite class is actually… the dialogue of civilizations to Geneva. Professor Garcia led that trip, and it really showed me how to navigate within political systems and how to combine research and theory into shaping policies.
Q: What was your most influential co-op?
A: Definitely the one with the Secret Service. I had grown up in a family where my grandpa was a general; my older brother was an officer in the Marine Corps. That gave me the first in-depth one-on-one experience. It really just showed me that that was something I would want to do. Working for the government would take me overseas, which is why I’m interested in international business.
Q: How did you found the MMXI Undergraduate Scholarship?
A: Going through Northeastern, I met a lot of really impressive individuals. I myself am a hardworking individual and wanted to surround myself with people like that. [My friends and I] were just reminiscing about college, and we were like, “Hey, we all have good jobs, why don’t we start a scholarship?” I could not have had a better college experience and I was lucky enough to be able to take unpaid co-ops, and I know that’s not the case for everyone.
Q: How did the University of Pennsylvania influence you?
A: I’m doing Teach For America during the day and Penn at night for grad school. TFA can only do so much training, so it was really nice to have that theoretical background. And on top of that, the relationships I was able to build there with people going through the TFA experience with me, that was really nice to have; they keep you on your toes. I really love learning, and I am a curious person by nature. It made me a more empathetic teacher.
Q: How did you get involved in Teach for America?
A: I grew up in a very patriotic family, and it was always instilled in me that I would serve my country in some way. One of my brothers’ roommates from school got accepted into [Americorps], and I found out that they placed people in Philadelphia. I grew up in the Philadelphia area, so that enabled me to give back.
Q: What is your teaching style like?
A: It’s definitely no-nonsense, but from a loving place. From the beginning of the year, my students and I come up with expectations. Expectations and not rules… you’re expected to meet them. My students are invested because they create them. I always challenge them to hold me to a very high standard, so that in turn allows me to hold them to a very high standard.
Q: What is the Fulbright English Teaching Assistant program?
A: I will be teaching English at a university in Brazil for nine months. I will basically be a cultural ambassador for the United States to Brazil. It’s about 20 to 25 hours a week of teaching, so that gives me a lot of time to immerse myself in the culture. I want to do independent research while I’m in Brazil as well.
Q: What sort of research?
A: I’m really torn. I’m probably going to make it toward security. People have to be moved out of the slums [for the World Cup] … A lot of this is occurring in very populated areas. Even if the Brazilians are not doing this in the friendliest manner, they’re super effective at it. Their military police is unbelievably well-trained, and I want to see what that training is like.
Q: Why did you decide to teach in Brazil?
A: I’ve been doing martial arts my whole life, and one of the styles I’ve done is Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. When I came to Northeastern, I wanted to actually learn the language, so I took Portuguese classes; I did independent studies. I also worked at the Portuguese Consulate in Boston.
Q: What are you most looking forward to?
A: I’m really excited just to learn Portuguese, refine my Portuguese, learn a little bit more of their culture. I’m also excited to share my experience as an American because I feel like a lot of countries have a very stereotypical view of America. I want to show them that our countries have a lot in common.
Photo courtesy James Eggers
