“ACE provides me with the exciting opportunity to step outside of my comfort zone to truly experience and learn from a culture that is vastly different than my own.”
Julia’s past experiences with service include tutoring at local elementary middle schools. Julia recently completed a 10 week class with the Haas Center during which she provided English and literacy tutoring to kindergarteners. Julia advocates alongside her teammates for the One Love foundation, a campaign dedicated to providing education about relationship violence and abuse.
Julia is a senior on the Stanford Women’s Lacrosse team. Last year she helped her team compete in and win the inaugural Pac-12 Conference title. During the 2018 season, Julia was a Pac-12 Academic All-American Honorable Mention. During her ACE summer (2018), she traveled to New Delhi for three weeks as a member of the ACE in India team. During her time with ACE, Julia was placed in Action for Autism, a local health NGO dedicated to providing elementary and vocational education to individuals with autism. She thoroughly enjoyed building relationships with some of the students through the time she spent offering a helping hand during their sports activity time and in the occupational therapy rooms. During this upcoming year, Julia plans on investing time with service groups on campus, particularly East Palo Alto Tennis & Tutoring where she will provide weekly tutoring to local elementary students. Further, what Julia saw and learned about the Indian health system during her time with ACE inspired her to pursue a minor in Human Biology with a focus in Global Health. This past summer, Julia worked for Johnson & Johnson as a Research & Development intern.
Want to hear more about Julia’s ACE experience? Contact Julia.
Dear Future #ACEathletes,
- Best advice for learning about ACE: I talked a lot with teammates who had participated in ACE in the past about their experiences. However, I ultimately selected ACE in India based on its specific focus on public health; I loved how this perspective was unique from the other programs offered.
- Best advice for applying for ACE: I really relied on upperclassmen athletes who had already gone through the process.
- Best advice for getting started at your program: Being in such a foreign place, it was so easy to find familiarity in all of my ACE teammates. As for other staff members and people we worked with, I would say the best way to find success would be to listen and always be open to new ideas and culture while still offering your own unique perspective.
- Tips for getting to know your community: Even though I was unable to communicate with much of the community as I knew minimal amount of the native language, I realized that a smile and even a butchered attempt at speaking their native language goes a long way. After seeing the same faces for three weeks, it was fun to feel unspoken relationships grow with the newspaper boy, community security guards, and gym owner alike.
- Tips for training: We were lucky enough to have access to both a gym and a park while we were in India. Running and lifting was a great way to start the day before it got too hot out.
- Tips for bringing ACE back to your team: Yes, completely. The freedom we had in India to explore different parts of the city, meet new people, and invest ourselves in service helped me to get to know myself, my interests, and my passions better. With that, I think my relationship with my sport has changed, as I have come to realize that the time I commit to my team (the training, practice, games, etc.), is a choice and should be a light that brightens my day.
- Reasons for staying involved in ACE: ACE is a once-in-a lifetime opportunity. Being able to travel across the world and immerse myself into a community and culture so different from my own, while getting to know a group of incredible athletes that I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to get close to otherwise, is something that I am very grateful for and would want as many student-athletes to know and apply for this opportunity as possible.