For Mary Reinbold ’25, earning a Princeton in Asia (PiA) Fellowship to teach in Japan before starting medical school marks a return to her early influences.
Growing up in Alaska, Reinbold received an unconventional education in the Anchorage School District Japanese Immersion Program, where she spent half her days learning core subjects—like math and history—entirely in Japanese.
“I am so excited to be a PiA Fellow in Japan because of how full circle this experience feels,” she says. “My Japanese teachers were all from Japan, and I feel honored to now be teaching English there and giving back to the opportunity that shaped me.”
In Yakage, a historic town in rural Japan, Reinbold will spend a year teaching preschoolers, “fostering excitement about learning a new language, and sharing what it was like to grow up in Alaska.”
“I hope to share with my students even a small part of what was given to me through my immersion education, and to continue fostering dialogue and exchange between the U.S. and Japan.”
Reinbold, who majored in Organismal Biology & Ecology with a minor in German Studies, says she’s “incredibly grateful” to be a PiA Fellow. “This year is a pivotal time in my life to explore other cultures and reflect on my place in the world before dedicating myself to a career in medicine.”
After medical school, Reinbold hopes to return to Alaska as a physician, caring for the community that raised her. She is currently an ophthalmic assistant at the Alaska Native Medical Center, an Indigenous nonprofit hospital, where she works to reduce barriers to healthcare access, and travels to remote communities to provide eye care.
“I see teaching and medicine as deeply interconnected,” she says, “and I hope to continue to gain the skills to communicate effectively with people of different ages and cultural backgrounds.”
The prestigious PiA Fellowship supports cultural immersion and cross-cultural understanding between the United States and Asia. Reinbold was one of about 60 people to be offered a fellowship this year.
Reinbold says Chelsea Walter, director of the Office of Culturally & Linguistically Diverse Education, and Andrea Culp, director of the Public Interest Fellowship Program, were instrumental in helping her earn the award, and her CC experience helped her win the fellowship.
For example, starting in her sophomore year, Reinbold tutored peers in German—developing creative approaches to fostering a passion for language learning.
“CC prepares students to be highly adaptable,” she says, “and I found that the Block Plan and the travel grants I received made it possible for me to learn new subjects quickly and build community wherever I go.”
