Graduates of the Asian Studies department have gone on to pursue graduate degrees in many different fields. Among their chosen institutions are:
- University of California, San Diego
- American University
- Brock University
- University of Montana
- Carlow College
- University of New Orleans
- University of Iowa
- Case Western Reserve University
Short Bio – January 2025
Gracie Balzar – I graduated from St. Mary’s College of Maryland in 2022 where I obtained my Bachelor of Arts in Asian Studies and Mandarin Chinese Language. During my time at St. Mary’s, I had the life-changing opportunity to study abroad for one semester at Fudan University (Shanghai, China). I also had the unique experience of leaving China in January 2020 due to COVID-19 altering plans. In the summer leading up to my junior year, I was an intern with the U.S. Department of State Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs.
After graduating, I worked as a Study Abroad Advisor with the Center for International Studies Abroad at St. Mary’s College of Maryland. I then moved on to American Councils for International Education. Currently, I am a Program Officer facilitating professional exchange programs with young professionals (ages 25-35) from Southeast Asia, Europe, and Eurasia. The Asian Studies department instilled in me the confidence to pursue my own path, seek out new experiences, use my voice, travel the world, and nurture the leader that I am today and will become in the years to come. In addition to a stellar education, you gain a community of incredibly dedicated professors, mentors, and peers who are your strongest champions as you forge your place in the world. Go forth, trust, be open to new experiences. As long as you try, you can never go wrong.
Short Bio – February 2018
My name is Mayumy Rivera, I’m originally from El Salvador but moved to Baltimore City in 2009. I graduated from St. Mary’s College of Maryland in 2016 where I obtained my bachelor’s of arts in Asian Studies and Chinese Language. I had the opportunity to study abroad for one-academic year in Fudan University (Shanghai, China) and at the end of my senior year of college I obtained the CLS scholarship to study in Dalian, China during the summer of 2016.
After graduating college, I decided to take some time for myself and to explore South America and so I moved to Sao Paulo, Brazil in March 2017. While living in Brazil, I have had the chance to travel to many parts of Brazil, I have been learning Portuguese, and I have also been working on my online English teaching project. I’m currently working as an English tutor for VIPKID, a large English learning online-platform from Beijing, China. I have also been teaching English and Spanish to adults from different parts of the world (Russia, Egypt, Italy, Spain, Brazil, China) for a couple of months now.
There are so many things I have learned after college, one of them is that I may not be doing what I thought I would do when I was a senior in St. Mary’s but my passion for the Chinese culture and language is still alive. Therefore, I will be going back to China this Fall to begin my master’s degree in Foreign Languages to continue with my career plans. I plan on living China for the next 2-3 years to develop my project even more and gain more mandarin language and Chinese culture experience.