Congratulations to alum and Barnard graduate Julia Ellis, who has won the Fulbright Garcia Robles Fellowship Award to serve as an English Teaching Assistant with a supplementary community project in Mexico. Julia majored in psychology and human rights at Barnard College, where her interest in teaching ESL for Spanish speakers grew when she received the Columbia University’s Global Thought Experience Initiative grant, which allowed her to teach at the Northern Manhattan Coalition for Immigrant Rights. She also studied abroad in Ecuador, where she volunteered at a shelter for women and children who had survived domestic violence- learning valuable tools about trauma-informed crisIs management and group therapy. Since graduating from Barnard in 2018, Julia has been working at the Columbia University Medical Center as a clinical research coordinator, pursuing interests pertaining to the relationship between psychological trauma and healthcare inequities in emergency room settings. She volunteers at Fresh Youth Initiative, to help low-income, immigrant, and first-generation children achieve their academic goals. Julia plans to pursue a graduate degree in child psychology, specializing in trauma and resilience for children adapting to new environments, especially during the asylum-seeking process. She is hopeful that this Fulbright experience will allow her to gain new insights into pediatric growth and development as well as how children’s mental health is viewed in Mexico.
