Gonzaga Fulbright scholar with passion for the environment heading to Taiwan
Kaiya Collins’ degrees in elementary education and environmental studies were a perfect match.
Her passion for these two topics has not only led to success at Gonzaga University, but also will help her continue to find success as she travels to Taiwan to teach English on a Fulbright Scholarship.
“I always try to combine my two fields together. In environmental studies I talked about teaching a lot,” Collins said. “In teaching I talk about the environment a lot.”
To graduate on time, she had to take 18 credits a semester, and a good portion of those were night classes.
“It’s totally worth it to have a teaching credential. Whether I choose to become a teacher or not, I’m really happy for the experience, and to know that I have that skill set,” Collins said.
Collins has done work throughout her four years at GU to make it a better, more sustainable place.
“Kaiya, like many in her generation, is not content to just critique the radical inequities in the world,” said Andrea Brower, one of Collins’ environmental studies professors at GU. “She wants to think through the challenging and complex questions of what we must do to bring a better world into being.”
In the past year Collins and a few other students created “Mend it Monday,” a program where they would set up sewing machines on campus and fix students’ clothes for no charge, reducing clothing waste. They also used this service to help children and families in need by going to the Logan Family Dinner, a weekly free meal provided to families at Logan Elementary by Campus Kitchen, an organization working to cut food waste.
Collins was also a part of the Gonzaga Environmental Organization, partook in a few theater productions and participated in numerous community service activities that revolved around education and outreach in the Logan community.
Due to her commitment to her education and community, Collins received a Fulbright scholarship – a highly competitive national award to teach English or do research in a foreign country.
She decided to apply to go to Taiwan, partially because her grandmother is from Taiwan and she wanted to return to the country of her ancestors. She also picked the Fulbright to keep teaching under a co-teaching model, which she had become familiar with during her student teaching at GU.
“I also realized it was a great way for me to get more teaching experience and be a better teacher for English language learners,” Collins said. “I would also get more cultural perspectives about teaching philosophy but also get to know my own culture and spend some time living in the country my grandmother grew up in.”
Collins’ adviser for the Fulbright, James Hunter, said her passion and experience in the educational field, as well as her appreciation for all people and cultures, was what made her application so strong.
“She looks at things through multiple lenses,” Hunter said. “She’s got a lot of confidence, but she’s also able to temper it by looking at other perspectives.”
These perspectives Collins will be taking to Taiwan also helped Collins find her voice at GU.
“I think I discovered that it’s important to share your ideals with others even if it makes them uncomfortable,” Collins said. “As a queer woman and someone who’s mixed race but very white-passing and straight-passing, I’ve always found it important that when I’m in class I should be an advocate for marginalized voices.”
Collins created change at GU through her environmental initiatives and commitment to social justice, service and education. She plans to continue this wherever her future may take her.
“Kaiya cares deeply about people and the planet, and applies her intelligence to thinking critically about complex world problems,” Brower said.
“She is always asking questions, peeling back the layers of assumptions we inherit from society in order to think anew about a more just, equitable and sustainable future. Kaiya left an impression on me from the very first day I met her, and continues to do so.”