New NGA Venture: Partnership with Princeton-in-Asia (PiA) Program

February 21, 2017

Phillip Baumgart, PiA fellow, is a new English language instructor at NGA. He joined AUCA through the new partnership program, PiA. He shared some information about himself and his experience of working at AUCA:

“Princeton-in-Asia is coordinated and sponsored by Princeton University. It is a fellowship program dedicated to service and cross-cultural exchange.  In some ways, it’s comparable to the U.S. Peace Corps. It sets up graduates of American universities (not only Princeton graduates) with one-year jobs with institutions all over Asia. Many, like mine, are teaching posts, while many are in the realms of journalism, finance, NGO work, and more. You might find yourself working for a sustainable agriculture organization in Myanmar, writing for a newspaper in Korea, teaching at a beach-adjacent primary school in Thailand, or doing data analytics for an environmental monitoring group in China.

I’m originally from Denver, Colorado, in the Rocky Mountain region of the United States. I studied English & Comparative Literature at Columbia University and worked in publishing for a while in NYC at Scholastic Inc. (land of Harry Potter and The Hunger Games). In 2014, I made the jump to this side of the world to work as an educator via Princeton in Asia (more on that later).  I’ve been lucky enough to have spent 2 years in China, about half a year in India, and have visited many other parts of Asia during breaks.  I’m a freelance photographer, so venturing to so many fascinating places has offered some really great photography opportunities.

 I’m a big fan of the PiA program—and it has unquestionably facilitated lasting friendships and about a million memorable experiences. This is my third year with PiA. My earlier positions where in China (Dalian then Beijing). Right now I am working at NGA. I like Kyrgyzstan a lot thus far – so I very well might try to stay here.”

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