2024 Report — Oberlin Shansi

By Donnie Harris ‘23, American College Fellow 2023-2025

From left to right: Donnie Harris, Ms. Premila Paul (SCILET Faculty), Phoebe von Conta and Mr. Ebenezer Fenn (SCILET faculty) – depicted after a long and festive day of on-campus Pongal celebrations.

I won’t sugarcoat it; the prospect of post-college life used to loom overhead like a buzzard ominously circling a small breed of terrier. As the end of my senior year of college crept over the horizon, each passing day faded away in the face of what was to come: full-fledged adulthood—with its bills, income taxes, monthly budgets, trips to Ikea (or Facebook Marketplace), and (if I was lucky enough to find friends in some far away city) happy hours. Needless to say, the Shansi Program appeared like manna from heaven. The timing of this posting couldn’t have been more fortuitous—a chance to (slightly) defer…well…everything. Don’t be confused, Shansi has been anything but a delay of adulthood and responsibilities. Yes, I have an overarching plan for the next two years of my life, but the intricacies are entirely up to me. From the moment I had my first briefing with Ted, Shansi’s Senior Director, about revamped fellowship at the American College in Madurai, I could already anticipate a fresh kind of rigor and flexibility that simultaneously terrified and empowered me. As a creature of habit and structure, having to cultivate these elements myself has been quite the test. As I develop my own routines, procedures, rules and resources, I’ve been easing into new territory and have had to fundamentally reevaluate my approaches to how I work and even think.

Thankfully, I haven’t had to make this journey alone. With the support of my co-fellow, Phoebe, one of the best examples of real mentorship I’ve ever met, I can say that bit-by-bit I’m not only reshaping the Oberlin Shansi Center, but also reshaping myself. From riding on the back of a two-wheeled vehicle in some of the densest traffic I have ever seen, to self-advocating in the presence of senior college faculty and staff, Phoebe’s been there coaching me along the way. She’s encouraged me to step into my responsibilities (and ride the government bus down a mountainside). And, as I prepare to take the training wheels off as Phoebe moves on to greener pastures, I can only hope to have a similar positive impact my future co-fellow as they step into her shoes.

Restarting the Oberlin Shansi Center at the American College after a nearly fifteen year hiatus has been a gradual process. As an admittedly frantic person, the first few weeks after opening the OSC were slightly excruciating. I was filled with the usual fears that any extracurricular campus office faces: “What if they don’t come…”, “What if they find me boring…”, etc., etc. But eventually, I leaned into it, using slow days to plan and regroup. Meanwhile, the office’s new and freshly defined mission meant that I sometimes floundered my way through the occasional questions like, “So what do you do here?” However, little-by-little, students trickled in with the occasional friend or cluster of friends, and as their needs and interests became more apparent, so too did the OSC’s evolving sense of purpose. We’ve stocked the bookshelf with novels, textbooks, newspapers and even snacks and tea. The OSC now has a small inventory of helpful handouts and guides, board games, cards, coloring pages, and fidgets. Now, once shy students, who wouldn’t even share so much as a peep, come to the office just to sit and take a breather. They too, are finding their own new space to settle in.

In true OSC fashion, I’ve said a whole lot of both nothing and something. So, keeping things short and sweet: The current mission of the OSC is to provide students with professional development services and the tools to self-advocate, encourage low-stress English language practice, broaden cultural exposure, and help internationalize the American College’s campus—all through conducting programming and one-on-one advising sessions. An added bonus is that students have also begun to treat the office as a calm environment to study, mingle, or simply put their feet up. Only time — and my students — will be the judges of truly how significant my time at the American College has been. That being said, I’m feeling optimistic. It’s also quite reassuring that the administration and student body alike have been responsive and active in helping ensure that the OSC has a successful future. Movie nights, Model UN, and Current Events discussion sessions may not revolutionize the OSC, but it part of laying a solid groundwork for my successors.

As I try to cohesively collapse the past five months into a neat, concise summary, I can hardly find a place to begin. I could share how these past few months have helped me embrace “adulthood,” by pushing me to better advocate for myself, to speak to strangers, try new things (cliché, I know), or to simply enjoy being alone with my thoughts. I could describe the pride I felt, after months of adjustment, as I stood back and looked at how far the Oberlin Shansi Center has come—both as a program and a physical office space. I could give a detailed account of all the wonderful people I’ve met, many of whom I call my friends. Or I could fast-forward several sun-soaked months, multiple plane and bus journeys, and few trips to the hospital, to my dining room table. As I sit here, staring at Microsoft Word, listening to the whirr of the overhead fans, I try to whittle out sentence after sentence, hoping to find the words to make myself sound sufficiently interesting. Meanwhile, my eyes (and mind) occasionally wander from the pages as I take in the space around me, which has come quite a long way since my August arrival. The almost sterile pall of my florescent lighting has been replaced with the warm glow of fairy lights and a slightly yellow Philip’s brand bulb. The rich, red clay-colored, floor is now adorned with a variety of rugs that provide my feet some reprieve when the a/c has made the ground a touch too chilly. I’ve thrown up some art, scattered about some plants (fake and real alike), and I’m glad to say I’ve broken-in most of my cooking implements. In short: I’m home. And, when I leave my little cave of comfort and trinkets, I’m happy to say that my office, the campus, and the streets of Madurai feel familiar to me. Of course, from time-to-time I forgot my key to the office at home, get turned around looking for Saunders Hall, or scuff my toe on the sidewalk by the rear campus gate. Only now, my grumblings of, “What was I thinking getting on plane and traveling God only-knows-how-far??” have been replaced with a simple sigh and a return to business as usual. I guess you could say life after college isn’t so bad after all.