"Know Your Why": Alexandra St Tellien's African Fulbright Experience

April 5, 2024
An interview with a Fulbright Alumni Ambassador and UF alum.

_{(St Tellien speaking. Image courtesy of Lee Rivers, Lead Recruitment and Outreach Specialist at IIE.)}

When you hear that the Fulbright U.S. Student Program sends scholars to over 140 countries, which ones do you imagine? England, with the red double-decker buses and King’s Cross railway station? France, with its decadent pastries and Eiffel Tower? Alexandra St Tellien used her Fulbright grant to spend a year in the often-overlooked Côte d’Ivoire, a West African country home to beach resorts, rainforests, and diverse ethnic groups. As a Haitian who migrated to the U.S. at the age of 8, St Tellien proudly took the opportunity to explore her African heritage. Now a Fulbright Alumni Ambassador, she encourages applicants to explore countries that Western society can sometimes dismiss.      

“Know your why,” says Alexandra St Tellien, a University of Florida alum from the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences, a first-generation immigrant student, and a 2024 Fulbright Alumni Ambassador. While she shares this advice with students interested in applying for Fulbright, these words were also close at heart during her experience abroad in Côte d’Ivoire. St Tellien’s African roots inspire her “why.”    

“Côte d’Ivoire represented new possibilities for me,” says St Tellien. “Côte d’Ivoire’s rich cultural diversity and history motivated me because I knew I would expand my horizons from being in such an environment. I knew it could give me a better understanding of my African identity, which it did. And frankly, I wanted to do my Fulbright in an African country because I wanted to challenge myself and others who overlook these countries.”  

The Fulbright Program immerses applicants in a cross-cultural dialogue, introducing them to new perspectives inaccessible within the United States. For St Tellien, the grant allowed her to tap into “the Global African identity and experience.” Her time as a Fulbright grantee uncovered similarities between Ivorian and Haitian cultures. These discoveries reconstructed her viewpoint of what it means to be Haitian.  

“As a Haitian, I am part of the African Diaspora, and traveling to Côte d’Ivoire felt like a homecoming,” says St Tellien. “What I learned about myself is that I am a Pan-Africanist, and I want my work to add a nuanced voice to the discourse on Africa and its people. Côte d’Ivoire is part of that catalyzing agent in my shaping and constructing my identity.”  

St Tellien believes that many countries, such as Côte d’Ivoire, are overlooked by Fulbright applicants. Her reasoning is this: these areas rarely receive visibility in the West, and when they do, popular media spreads a narrative that perpetuates misconceptions. At the forefront are stereotypes labeling all African regions as poor, unsafe, and singular in their offerings. After a life-changing year in Côte d’Ivoire, St Tellien emphasizes the importance of challenging this narrative. She combines her role as an Alumni Ambassador with her graduate studies in Anthropology at Georgia State University to add a positive, knowledgeable voice to the discourse. Her work strives to recontextualize the view of African countries as “places in their own rights, history, resistance, and heritage.” She invites you to look beyond the commonly held beliefs. St Tellien says, “oftentimes, we talk about African countries as existing in a vacuum and ignore the fact that there are a lot of factors at play, such as colonialism and neo-colonialism, that have immense impact in how African countries function and are able to function.” 

Like St Tellien, Fulbright U.S. Student Program applicants have a chance to elevate their understanding of the world’s shared experience. It’s an exciting adventure for all academic disciplines to pursue graduate study, research, or teach English abroad. It sounds lofty; however, St Tellien likes to say, “Fulbright is elite, but not elitist.” This advice especially resonates with first-generation college students, who sometimes feel that prestigious awards are out of reach. As a first-gen student herself, she understands the sentiment. St Tellien advises you to “surround yourself with people who believe in you even when you don’t.”  

Ready to learn more about the Fulbright U.S. Student Program and its benefits? RSVP here for an info session hosted by the Office of Prestigious Awards. You’ll learn about Fulbright Program offerings, tips for crafting a competitive and culturally nuanced application, and more. 

As an official 2024 Fulbright Alumni Ambassador, Alexandra St Tellien is always available to answer your Fulbright questions at asttellien1@student.gsu.edu.

And if you get the chance, ask St Tellien about her love for Afrobeats, her graduate studies in anthropology at Georgia State University, and the wonders of Côte d’Ivoire’s national dish, garba. Plus, join the Office of Prestigious Awards and UF Student Success in congratulating her on becoming a Fulbright Alumni Ambassador. It’s an honor more competitive than being selected as a Fulbrighter! While you’re at it, please give her a second round of applause for her latest accomplishment: obtaining significant funding for her Ph.D. through the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program. 

Written by Braden Blue and Kelly J. Medley.