My Mizzou Story
Paige Hendrix
American Abroad: Following a dream
Living in Dubai, junior Paige Hendrix thrived on experiences that would daunt a seasoned traveler.
Except for a few toddler years, Paige Hendrix had never lived anywhere except the state of Missouri. Then, last September, the 21-year-old MU junior said goodbye to her parents in Neosho and her friends in Columbia to spend four months on the other side of the world.
Even before she landed in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, she had to negotiate the complexities that come with the role of an international traveler. On the flight east from London’s Heathrow airport, Hendrix was gazing out a window at the lights of cities she’d previously only seen on maps when she heard the words “stupid American” hurled at her by a fellow passenger.
Wonderful experiences would soon balance out the difficult ones, and Hendrix absorbed the good as well as the bad of her semester abroad at American University in Dubai. In the same day, she’d enjoy the city’s beautiful beaches and extravagant nightlife, yet have to fend off the advances of men far more aggressive than the ones she was used to at home; she’d admire Dubai’s wealth, yet note bigotry toward the city’s working-class Asians; she’d listen to the multicultural perspectives of classmates from around the world, yet battle the stereotyping of Americans.
Hendrix was determined to learn from it all. The international studies and geography double major is on a mission to prepare herself to work on humanitarian issues in the Middle East.
Her study abroad was funded by the Institute for International Public Policy Fellowship (IIPP), which selects minority students through the United Negro College Fund Special Programs Corporation. The program’s objective is to expand interest in international service to a diverse cross-section of Americans.
Hendrix is one of two MU students to receive this multi-year fellowship. The other is journalism student Carolina Escalera.
The IIPP fellowship offers Hendrix such assistance as summer policy institutes, intensive language training, internships, graduate study funding and career development services.
In addition to her semester in Dubai, Hendrix participated in the fellowship’s preparatory summer program at Atlanta’s Spelman College, where she attended courses on terrorism, foreign policy, technology, international health, development and globalization. She eventually wants to pursue graduate degrees in both law and international relations. But before that, she will spend two years working for a non-governmental organization, an IIPP requirement. Hendrix’s ideal NGO would be one that fights human trafficking, an
issue she has studied.
According to her mother, Pamela, Hendrix has always pursued her passions with determination. Hendrix began developing her interest in political science and international studies well before college — Pamela says her daughter enjoyed talking about Ronald Reagan as a three-year-old. In ninth grade, Hendrix joined her school’s debate team. During her five years as a debater, Hendrix prepared for her speeches by reading extensively about the world’s social and political problems.
“I studied just about every international topic, leader and country possible, and I saw a world that was huge, fascinating and needed help,” she says. When she arrived at Mizzou, she began looking for a way to go abroad.
In Dubai, Hendrix took classes in Arabic, Islamic art and architecture, public speaking, Islamic religion and macroeconomics. But her observations of classroom culture were often as enlightening as the professors’ lectures. In one class, Hendrix heard a student argue with the teacher that there was no such thing as secular Islamic art; in another, she saw students angered by the instructor’s condescension toward the Shia sect of Islam.
Some lessons were less intense; Hendrix noticed that students tried to get the teacher to end class 20 minutes early; that no one waited in line; and that, in complete opposition to American coeds, students dressed up for class.
Hendrix also temporarily observed Ramadan to show respect to her Muslim friends and to gain a deeper understanding of the religious holiday. Those close to Hendrix say they know few others who dedicate themselves so steadfastly to their endeavors.
Through an international program for minority students, Paige Hendrix traded her comfortable Missouri surroundings for a landscape dotted with mosques and souks.
Mosaics 2007