This page is no longer being updated and remains online for informational and historical purposes only. The information is accurate as of the last page update.
For questions about page contents, contact the Communications Division.
After graduating in May, Doug Margossian '01 took a break to travel like many graduates before looking for a job. But rather than just visiting tourist sites abroad, Margossian taught English to students in China. He spent a month in Shanghai as a volunteer with Cross-Cultural Solutions, a non-profit organization that sends volunteers abroad to provide humanitarian assistance.
“China is the world's most populous country and there's so much going on there, but our views are filtered thorough the media and I wanted to see what it was really like,” Margossian said in an interview in The Westborough News (Mass.) July 20. He adds he wanted to get to know the people by living among them instead of just sightseeing.
Margossian taught basic English to elementary children about four hours a day, two days a week. The rest of the week, he taught English to 14-and 15-year old students who had been studying English for eight years. He used games such as Hangman to help the students practice English.
“This was definitely a first for me, so it was intimidating in the beginning,” says the economics and business graduate about his teaching. “I really had no idea what to expect having never taught before, but after the first few days, they would get genuinely excited when I showed up.”
He lived at the Shanghai YMCA for a month, learning as much as he could about Shanghai and its culture, and holding discussions with young professionals.
“They're just like normal people,” he says. “We're basically the same except nobody talks about politics and they don't question stuff openly like we do here. I was able to get their opinions on things that in the same setting I wouldn't have been able to as a tourist. It was a great experience.”
Margossian is now working as an economic analyst at Cambridge Sytematics, a consulting firm in Cambridge, Mass. specializing in transportation and the public sector. He works alongside Dan Hodge '94.
