Don’t Let It Pass You By
When Michele Shoresman set off to Germany to learn more about the culture and higher education system there, she aimed ultimately to build relationships with overseas partners and encourage more German students to study at Washington University in the United States. As the university’s former study abroad advisor, she believes that exposing students to differences through cultural exchange “opens their eyes” and is a vital part of their education. Shoresman, who has multiple sclerosis, also hopes students who meet her recognize that they don’t have to give up their professional aims or even compromise on them if their mobility is impaired. “You just have to find a way around it,” she said.
That’s just what she did during her U.S. Department of State-sponsored Fulbright International Education Administrators (IEA) seminar in Germany. Shoresman, the assistant dean for graduate and joint degree programs at Washington University School of Law, traveled with a group of other higher education administrators and had to follow a very tight, full schedule, visiting Berlin, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Hamburg. For longer distances she used a scooter or wheelchair. If the group planned to use public transportation that was inaccessible to her, Shoresman took a taxi. They often encountered stairs, even along sidewalks and streets, which occasionally separated Shoresman from her group. But she didn’t allow herself to get discouraged. When faced with five flights of stairs at an elementary school the group was visiting, she accepted the helping hands offered to her and made her way up slowly on foot.
Shoresman also recognized from prior experiences abroad the importance of planning ahead. Before leaving on the three-week seminar, she contacted each hotel the group planned to use to make sure that she would be able to access all of their facilities. She also contacted the Fulbright Commission in Germany to discuss her concerns and its staff secured a wheelchair or scooter for her use wherever the group went. Shoresman further prepared herself by contacting previous participants in the IEA program to determine if she could manage the trip. “They encouraged me to apply, and it made all the difference in my confidence,” noted Shoresman.
Some challenges are impossible to foresee, however. When she visited a German department store one afternoon in search of some pants, she discovered that the department she needed was on the second floor and the store did not have an elevator. Instead of the helpful attitude she usually came across, Shoresman found no one willing to work with her. “You can’t get up there. We’re sorry,” was the tenor of the response she received. Shoresman graciously points out that, as a very old country, perhaps complete accessibility cannot be expected in Germany.
In spite of this kind of difficulty, Shoresman found her time in Germany very rewarding overall, and she offered to host a group of German international education administrators who came to the United States as Fulbrighters. She explained, “I wanted to give them an in-depth look at American educational institutions because I felt so welcomed in Germany and impressed by how well they took care of us. I wanted to return the hospitality.”
Shoresman regaled her German visitors with a variety of activities in St. Louis, including visits to a high school, a technical college, a community college and several departments at Washington University. She also wanted them to experience some typical American cultural activities to round out their understanding of the United States. These included touring St. Louis’ botanical garden, attending a German opera sung in English and going to a St. Louis Cardinals baseball game.
Shoresman accompanied her visitors on nearly every activity. One of the German visitors remarked that not only did she do a superb job hosting them and providing personal attention and a full week of activities, but also that in helping her figure out how to manage mobility challenges as they arose, the group bonded with her and with each other.
A previous international experience taught Shoresman a key lesson she would later rely on in Europe. While in China, she found out that the buses are extremely crowded, with people pushing in all directions. Since she couldn’t hop on like those around her, she found that if she wanted to board the bus, she had to grab the hands she found extended to her and let those riding pull her aboard. Shoresman advises all of us, “To get on, take the hand that’s stretched out or else you’re going to miss the bus.”
Michele Shoresman doesn’t plan on missing any bus, no matter what country she is in.
Deborah Moore was the Senior Program Officer for Recruitment at the Council for International Exchange of Scholars, a Division of the Institute of International Education.
The Fulbright International Education Administrators (IEA) Program provides an opportunity for U.S. international education professionals and higher education officials to engage in a summer seminar in one of three host countries: Germany, Korea or Japan.
