By Whitney Baxter
Arilyn Oatman is no stranger to making big life decisions within a matter of days. Want to participate in an internship in Kenya? Check and done. How about helping people in Senegal build their English language skills? She’s already packing her bags.
“Iowa State gave me the tools to see where help is needed, and that played a role in encouraging me to take on the opportunities I’ve been presented,” Oatman said.
A spring 2024 graduate with a bachelor’s degree in global resource systems and minors in French, food and society, and teaching English as a second language, Oatman leaves on Sept. 23 to embark on a prestigious Fulbright U.S. Student Program experience in Thies, Senegal. She will spend nine months teaching adults and college students the English language along the west African coast. As part of the Fulbright requirements, Oatman will also conduct a special project that will involve teaching basic English classes to elementary- and middle school-aged students.
“The research I did for my global resource systems and honors program final projects allowed me to see the benefits afforded to people when they know how to speak the English language,” Oatman said.
The decision to accept the Fulbright program offer was a quick one – Oatman was notified of her selection on a Friday and had to answer by the following Monday. A few emails and calls to her mom, John Milstead, coordinator of nationally competitive awards at Iowa State, and conversations with friends led to her decision.
“Everyone told me I should just do it,” Oatman said with a laugh.
While she is passionate about teaching, that was not always Oatman’s intended career. Her June 2022 participation in the ISU En France trip “flipped the switch” that changed her career trajectory. She enjoyed seeing how professors at the University of Sorbonne in Paris taught her and the other students the French language. Oatman wanted to do that someday, too.
“People have been telling me since I was 5 years old that I should be a teacher, and Iowa State helped lead me to that path,” Oatman said.
David Acker, associate dean for global engagement in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, had Oatman in his global food security course and invited her to take part in a workshop he was co-leading in Uganda. Through these and other interactions at Iowa State, Acker witnessed Oatman’s strong leadership and communication skills.
“Arilyn has already been exposed to the cross-cultural dimensions of working and living abroad in different cultures, which will be an asset for her upcoming Fulbright program experience,” Acker said. “She is extremely bright, does not shy away from very hard work and is unafraid of challenges.”
Following her Fulbright experience, Oatman plans to attend graduate school at Colorado State University to enroll in the institution’s joint master of fine arts program in languages, literatures and cultures with a focus on French. And while her goal is to one day return to Africa to teach, she is open to other options.
“I’ve learned that when you have a concrete plan, you miss out on so many things,” Oatman said. “So, I’m going to continue to learn and grow and take whatever opportunity presents itself.”