Welcoming the 2025 Fellows to Indonesia
Over the following two weeks, we are sharing the photos and short bios for the newest members of the Shansi family, who will be heading to China, India, Indonesia, and Japan as Shansi Fellows this summer.
This spring, we are excited to have two fellows headed to Indonesia: Trevor will be based out of Banda Aceh at Syiah Kuala University and Ella is headed to Universitas Gadjah Mada in Yogyakarta.
Ella Erdahl '25 is from the Twin Cities area in Minnesota and majored in Hispanic Studies, Comparative Literature, and Creative Writing. While at Oberlin, she wrote an Honors Thesis about surrealist poetry in the Dominican Republic during Trujillo's dictatorship, presented original poetry translations in the Translation Symposium, worked for The Oberlin Review as a Production Editor, and served as Editor-in-Chief for Synapse Magazine. She has extensive experience as an educator and mentor, having worked in the College as a Spanish Writing Tutor, Peer Advising Leader, and Senior Admissions Fellow. Through the SITES program, Ella taught Spanish at Oberlin Elementary School, and while abroad in Spain, she taught English to preschoolers and worked as an Au Pair. She engages with the performing arts, having acted in various plays at Oberlin and performed as a member of VIBE dance company. In her free time, she likes staying active, reading, spending time outside, and cooking with her friends and family.
Trevor Smith’ 25 is a Politics major and Philosophy minor. Throughout his time at Oberlin, he has worked as a Peer Advising Leader, an Executive Functioning Tutor, and a Residential Assistant. He has designed and taught two experimental college courses: ComicsCo explored the history, fan culture, and influential works of American comic books, while UtopiaCo surveyed a diverse range of utopian literature and media. Trevor is passionate about the intersection between education and social and economic justice. This passion has led them to work in the labor movement, interning with both the North Carolina AFL-CIO and the United Steelworkers. In these roles, he developed educational material for union members and worked on an organizing campaign for graduate student workers. During his time as a Shansi Fellow, he is eager to empower students to be meaningful contributors to their own education as well as thoughtful members of their learning community.