After graduating from Duke, Nathaniel Hartley now works as a network security engineer at an IT consulting firm in Charlotte, North Carolina. Nathaniel reflects on how his immersion in Tibetan cultural practices during his ACE in China 2019 program was a transformational experience for him during his time at Duke. His time with ACE not only deepened his understanding of cultures different from his own but also instilled a lasting appreciation for them. Today, Nathaniel actively incorporates the lessons from his ACE experience into his daily life. He actively seeks to expand his knowledge and engage with topics that were previously unfamiliar to him.
What are you doing now? How has ACE influenced your career pathway?
I am currently living in Charlotte, NC working as a Network and Security Engineer at an IT consulting firm. As I am still early in my career, I plan on accumulating industry-standard certifications and developing my technical skills and expertise as an engineer. I do want to get my masters at some point, but at the moment I am focusing on gaining as much experience as possible and continuously developing myself. After ACE, I garnered a greater appreciation for learning and understanding other cultures and religions around the world. I’m not afraid to admit that before ACE I was ignorant about Tibetan/Chinese culture and religion. I was aware from classes growing up, but only at the surface level. My mother is from Tennessee and my father is from England so, while England is a cool place with its own culture, I didn’t have much of a melting pot growing up. ACE in China really opened my eyes to the Chinese culture, the history of the area, and most importantly the dedication to faith and tradition I saw in several people, especially the elders. It’s one thing to read about it, but to be fully immersed is an entirely different experience. After ACE, I wanted to continue learning about different cultures and history. In my junior year, I took several African American Studies classes, with my favorite being taught by Richard Powell. The course took a deep dive into different African cultures, art, religion, and history and it’s influence on cultures we see today in countries like Brazil, Jamaica, Cuba, and America due to the dispersion of numerous African tribes from the slave trade. All of this is to say, ACE showed me the benefits of keeping an open mind, being eager to learn new things, appreciating the history and significance of how we got here, and seeing below the surface level of what surrounds us. As the age of technology develops, it’s easy for the past to seem insignificant with how eager we all are for the future. While technological advancements are great, we should not let tradition and history fade into the past.
Share one lesson from ACE that still holds today.
During our time in ACE in China, we went to several religious areas sacred for Tibetan Buddhist, and I was taken suprised by how welcoming and excited the local people were for us to be learning about their religion. People today can be quick to dismiss others with different backgrounds and religions, but from my experience in China, I learned the importance of having an open mind and how you can learn something from others if you give them the chance to teach you. Without ACE, I’m not sure if I would have ever taken the initiative to learn about Tibetan Buddhism and its practices, but doing so sparked a flame within me to always be curious and to ask questions. Last year, I came across a coffee truck that had Tibetan prayer flags hanging inside. After getting my coffee, I asked about them and they were amazed that I knew what they were. After a lengthy conversation, I got to learn more about the people who were working the truck and their history, all due to just being curious and asking questions. This practice has allowed me to build relationships with several people and learn more about things I had little knowledge of before.
Describe your ACE experience in as few words as possible:
Insightful, unique, welcoming, eye-opening, uniting
What’s one thing you want people to know about ACE?
ACE is an incredible experience and you will learn a lot if you make the most of it. Pay attention to what you’re learning about, immerse yourself in the experience, keep a journal of what you did that day, and don’t dismiss activities that you may think are boring or not interesting to you. It’s not every day you get the chance to immerse yourself in a different country and culture. If you give the experience the chance, it can be an incredibly eye-opening experience for you. Make the most of the time with other student-athletes on the trip and build relationships. After my experience, it was always great running into the people that were on my program, and I felt like I had this additional bond coming back to school after the experience.