The Capacity to Give Back
Hailey Guzman-German ’24 is ready to take on her Fulbright Fellowship in Mexico
Hailey Guzman-German ’24 has Mexico on her mind. Not its warm weather or coastal resorts, but its culture, people, and failed policies meant to protect women from violence.
It’s a fascination born in her senior year when she spent a semester studying abroad on the Yucatán Peninsula and another on campus researching those policies. It left her wanting more.
Next week, Guzman-German will get more—much more—when she returns to Mexico as a prestigious Fulbright Fellow. As an English Teaching Assistant, she will fully immerse herself in the cultural exchange that is a hallmark of the Fulbright Program. For her required supplemental project, she aims to volunteer at a nonprofit that works with women survivors of violence.
She is eager to return, integrate herself into communities, and witness firsthand what is happening to women—and why.
“I want to be able to connect with people, ask questions, and truly see how this issue affects people who live there,” said Guzman-German, a Dominican American from Lawrence, Mass.
The Fulbright Program placed Guzman-German in the city of San Antonio de Cardenas on the Yucatán Peninsula. While there, she will teach at La Universidad Tecnológica de Campeche. She believes the Fulbright experience will inform her next steps, which include pursuing a graduate degree in public health policy. Her long-range goal is a career focused on issues of violence against women and mental health advocacy in the Caribbean and Latin America.
“I’m so excited for what the future holds, and I feel very ready to take on this fellowship,” she said. “And I give all the credit to Colby. I wouldn’t be the student or the person I am without the foundation the College gave me.”
Academic journey
The daughter of immigrants from the Dominican Republic, Guzman-German grew up with the value of education instilled in her from a young age. She enrolled at a boarding school in Massachusetts for high school to better prepare herself for college. During her college search, she learned about Colby and was drawn to its small size and Jan Plan program. The full scholarship she received was a “complete blessing.”
After taking AP psychology and statistics in high school, she came to Colby to pursue a degree in psychology. In her first year, she discovered the field of Latin American studies. She added it as a second major after watching a film about Brazilian street children in class. The film had a powerful impact on her and marked the beginning of associations she made between mental health and societal issues in Latin America.
“Throughout my four years, there were so many times when I left a psych class and went to an LAS class and thought, ‘There are so many connections here,’” she said.
Her first opportunity to apply her studies to the real world was during a Jan Plan trip to Bogotá, Colombia. She traveled as a student research assistant with Associate Professor of Government Lindsay Mayka, who was using the city as a case study for research on urban interventions and skid row zones. For nearly two weeks, Guzman-German and Galilea Luna ’25 accompanied Mayka on interviews and tours of zones in Bogotá.
“That experience completely transformed my understanding of sex work, drug abuse, and how a government intervenes in these zones really matters and really impacts the lives of people,” she said.
When the time came to spend an entire semester abroad, Guzman-German knew she wanted to return to Latin America.
Before and after
While most Colby students study abroad in their junior year, Guzman-German spent the fall of her senior year abroad. A required two-semester statistics course for her psychology major kept her on Mayflower Hill during her junior year.
When she arrived at La Universidad Autónoma de Yucatán in Mérida, she was committed to being fully present for her experience. In Mérida, she thrived taking courses in public health, anthropology, Spanish, Mexican cooking, and Caribbean literature. She discovered a unique accent and cuisine, bonded with her host family, and savored the experience of being on her own while immersing herself “head first” into a new culture.
She returned utterly changed.
“There’s a Hailey before Mexico, and there’s a Hailey after Mexico,” she said. “It completely solidified so many things in me and taught me so much about empathy, people, and cultural exchange. On a more personal level, it brought me closer to my relationship with God and my faith.”
‘I’m so excited for what the future holds, and I feel very ready to take on this fellowship.’
Hailey Guzman-German ’24
It also raised her awareness of the prevalence of violence against women. She learned that on average, 10 women in Mexico are killed every day.
Back on campus for her final semester, Guzman-German focused her capstone project in Latin American studies on that statistic and why women aren’t being protected. Her conclusion? A toxic mix of a machismo culture and the way drug cartels corrupt nearly every aspect of life in Mexico.
Heard, seen, and nurtured
While her capstone project was valuable, it was conducted in Maine, far away from Mexico. That’s why the Fulbright Fellowship is so invaluable—to bring her into direct proximity with Mexican women and their lives.
In the month leading up to her fellowship, she reflected on how Colby prepared her beyond her study abroad opportunities.
The examples include meeting fellow students, “from all walks of life in different states and different countries,” she said. Coming from a high school of 200, the 2,000-plus students at Colby taught her how cultural exchanges can enrich one’s life. Colby also gave her the intimacy of small classes and close relationships with professors. Her confidence grew, and she learned to use her voice and reach out for help.
“The professors are so integrated in your day-to-day life, and that helped me throughout my four years,” she said. “Professor Mayka helped guide me so much—she was like my college mom. She was there with me from day one.”
Guzman-German also cited other “adult professionals” at Colby who were there for her. And she singled out the DavisConnects staff for helping her gain networking skills and so much more. “They genuinely cared about my thoughts, my worries, my next steps,” she said.
“I definitely felt heard, seen, and nurtured throughout all four years.”
When Guzman-German arrives in Mexico, she will bring the “Hailey after Mexico,” her Colby experience, and her American and Dominican identities. It’s a rich background with which to begin the process of giving back.
“It will definitely be a full-circle moment,” she said of the opportunity to model the empathy, care, and patience she has received. “I will carry that forward.”
