Ruby Rich ’24 is pursuing an English Teaching Assistantship (ETA) for Fulbright Austria. Rich works as a teaching assistant 13 hours a week at two secondary schools in Austria, working with students 10 to 18 years old. The program, administered by the Austrian Federal Ministry of Education, Science, and Research (BMBWF) as a partner with Fulbright, provides funding for Americans to teach English and act as cultural ambassadors in Austria for one to two years.
Rich says that the program is a great opportunity for German speakers to gain teaching experience. “I go into classes and present on different subjects, giving the students as many opportunities to practice speaking with a native speaker as possible,” she said.
After enjoying tutoring kids in English throughout college, Rich applied to the program to get more experience in education. “I really connected with the kids and felt like I was doing good work in the community. So, Fulbright Austria’s English teaching program also gives me a chance to see if teaching is a job I’d like to pursue.”
Rich says she approached the fellowship as a gap year before graduate school and an opportunity to gain more experience living abroad. It’s also a way for her to further her learning of German, after studying abroad in Germany in high school and studying away at NYU’s Berlin site.
Rich graduated with a degree in Social Science (Environmental Studies) in 2024. Since graduation she traveled in China, visited her family in the US, and has been working as an artist. In Vienna, she continues to pursue her art while teaching through the Fulbright ETA and is planning her next step, either continued study in law or environmental studies, or working for the State Department.
“I think that living abroad and working with students will help me develop skills like cross-cultural communication and adaptability,” she said. “Engaging with students helps me practice breaking down complex ideas into digestible concepts—which could be a really useful skill for law school or even academic writing. Mostly, I think living abroad makes me more resilient and gives me experiences I wouldn’t otherwise have.”
NYU Shanghai’s Director of Global Awards Anna Kendrick congratulated Rich. "From researching renewable energies in China and the US to teaching high school students in Austria, Ruby brings an energetic, positive and inspiring approach to people-to-people exchange,” she said. “Connecting with individuals while recognizing larger structural interconnections, Ruby is poised to contribute valuable global experience in her next steps."