It is funny how sometimes things people do with the purpose of pleasing someone else become a passion that is both enjoyable and an integral part of who they are. Like being told to ‘eat your vegetables,’ and it turns out that broccoli and carrots and cucumbers are not only healthy, but delightful.
For recent Oberlin College graduate Grace Evans, studying Mandarin was similar to a child eating vegetables. Initially, Evans took Mandarin courses simply to please her mother. But she discovered a passion that has taken her across the world once already and the fuel that keeps her inner fire burning.
After conducting research during the last winter term in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China, she received a Fulbright scholarship in late April to travel to Taiwan and teach English as a second language.
Although Evans will be returning the Asian peninsula for the second time, her journey to the East began five years ago during her initial visit to Oberlin.
During the first leg of an overnight trip with the softball team in the fall of 2012, Evans visited a class and figured out that Oberlin was a special place. As a high school senior, her on-campus experiences permanently altered the notion that Oberlin wasn’t for her.
“I sat in on a class and was immediately welcomed by all the students. Everyone kept asking, ‘was I a prospie?’ if so, ‘welcome.’ It was a typical Obie welcome! I didn’t get that anywhere else I visited.”
The following fall, after multiple conversations with then-softball head coach, Mimi Mahon, Evans found herself on campus.
“I came in as a freshman and decided to take Mandarin to please my mom,” said Evans. “I wasn’t enchanted with it at first, but what really pushed me to make it my career path was the professors and the friends I have made in the program. The professors are just wonderful and so supportive of me as a student, athlete, and as a person.”
Besides finding her groove in the classroom and fostering new relationships with friends in the Mandarin program, Evans found something much more profound: a family with the softball team.
“Softball is what drew me to Oberlin College,” explained Evans. “I had an overnight with the team and got to watch a practice. I saw the intensity and how much of a family atmosphere it really was on and off the field. It seemed like they were always there for each other. The togetherness and camaraderie cemented the notion that if I came here then I would have the opportunity to be a part of not only a team, but a family.”
As a four-year starter, she continued to foster that sense of community and family for Oberlin College softball and in turn helped usher in a new era for the program.
Since the first time she stepped onto the diamond donning the Crimson and Gold to her final at-bat as a Yeowoman, Evans picked up a few accomplishments along the way. She departs the program as the all-time leader in hits, at-bats, and RBIs.
She also boasts a career batting average of over .300 and slugging percentage that exceeds .400. During her playing career, she made a name for herself in the North Coast Athletic Conference that earned her three consecutive all-conference selections.
Over her tenure that spanned two head coaches (Mahon and current skipper Sara Schoenhoft), Evans’ leadership on the ball field, in the classroom, and in the community has helped spark a culture shift for Oberlin College softball. Her final year culminated in the second most successful campaign in program history: 12 wins.
Her athletic achievements are overshadowed only by her academic prowess.
During her study abroad semester in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, this past fall she conducted honors research on the Chinese standardized testing system,
gaokao, and how it shapes the lives of current college students – similar to how standardized tests like the ACT and SAT funnel students toward different institutions.
All high school students in China take the exam. Universities then take the data and have a pseudo-bidding war for students with the highest scores.
Students who tend to have the better marks are those from Beijing and more metropolitan areas. That is not where Evans was conducting research.
Hangzhou, Zhejiang, about an hour ride on a bullet train outside of Beijing, is a rural area, often leaving those students at a disadvantage when colleges begin to offer acceptance.
“Most of the top colleges are in Beijing and therefore high school students in Beijing have the best chance to get into those colleges,” explained Evans. “Even though a student from rural China may score the same score as the Beijing student, there is a great inequality with the way the system is currently structured. I was looking at how this test shapes their adult lives.”
Her experience in China with the education system spawned another opportunity as her final semester drew to a close. Evans received a Fulbright scholarship to teach English as a second language in Taiwan her first summer out of college.
“I am teaching classes with a local English teacher and developing clubs and working to build more of a cultural exchange with the students and hopefully with the athletics department as well,” explained Evans. “I am able to work on my own teaching techniques and work with Mandarin speakers to develop their English from scratch. It’s a great challenge and has already been a great experience for me. It is definitely helping me cultivate my own abilities to adapt.”
Evans is currently in Taiwan, teaching at the elementary level. After her stint abroad, she would like to take her experiences and passion for politics and attempt to reform a sputtering U.S. education system.
“I believe activism is a huge part of bringing about change, but it can’t be the only part. I think activism is what is drawing people back into the education debate, especially considering the position the current Administration is taking on education reform. Activism in that sense is what brings a topic back into the media and the national narrative. It is important to continue the conversation and make sure that education is constantly part of that narrative.”
Following her assistantship, Evans hopes to attend graduate school to further her knowledge of education policy and become a vessel for change in the future.
