Every year in the Spring, the George Clement Bond Center for African Education (CAE) offers two $500 travel grants to any Teachers College (TC) student planning to conduct research, volunteer, or intern in an African country over the summer term. In Spring 2022, two TC Masters students, Kella Merlain-Moffatt and Sa’adat Mohammed, were awarded the CAE Research Grant.
Kella Merlain-Moffatt used the grant to fund her travels to Ghana to conduct research about Ghana’s language of instruction educational policy. She conducted the 22 interviews from Accra, the capital of Ghana, for six weeks over the summer for her Integrative Project (IP). The CAE Travel Grant helped her to cover some of the costs of travel.
“I interviewed youth who are members of the Ga ethnic group. I wanted to look at this language of instruction policy that says that students should learn in their indigenous language for the first three or four years of schooling. And so I was really interested to see if that was the case or not.”
Before she applied for the CAE Travel Grant, Kella Merlain-Moffatt was looking for ways to fund her independent research. At the suggestion of a few of her peers in the year ahead of her at TC, she decided to apply.
“I think for me, I had a couple of second-years encourage me to apply, and I think otherwise I would have learned about the grant through the emails. But I think to also have other people tell you to apply, then you think “okay, maybe I should really do this.” And I felt like it was a really good opportunity to not only work on application skills when it comes to seeking funds, but to also be able to minimize some of the costs of traveling abroad to conduct research independently.”
She looked to her peers and professors for advice about how to successfully apply for a grant.
“I definitely spoke to people who I knew that applied successfully to grants at Teachers College in the past to ask for their guidance. And then I also turned to some of my professors, and that was really helpful as well, to get their input.”
Sa’adat Mohammed used the CAE Travel Grant to fund her visa application and travel health insurance for an internship with Adapt Peacebuilding -The Learning Institute in Majorca, Spain. At Adapt Peacebuilding, she trained peacebuilders working in several African countries in conflict sensitivity and wellness . From February to May, she worked remotely, but traveled to Majorca for the summer to complete her internship.
“Okay, so I took a course at SIPA called Applied Peace Building, and there are three components. The first component is the class component. The second component is the summer whereby you have an internship. And the third component is the symposium that we're going to have this fall, which I still haven't thought about yet (laughs). It's going to be November sometime. So I used my travel grant, mainly, for visa applications and insurance. Not really my flight because it wouldn't cover that, but it helps with the visa application and my insurance, health insurance.”
Before she applied for the grant, Sa’adat Mohammed was unsure whether she was eligible.
“Okay, so when I applied initially, I did not want to apply. Right. And I think [the deadline] was extended as well but I didn't think I qualified for it simply because my internship was not going to be in Africa. But I started off my internship from here and it was in NYC. Right. So we started that. It was the same thing I was going to do in Majorca, except they were going to work in the African context.”
Despite her misgivings, Sa’adat Mohammed applied anyway, and was pleased when she won the grant. She believes her confidence in application writing helped her to secure the funding.
“I applied for two other grants. So there was the TC one, and there was the Columbia wide one, the African one. So I guess those ones I saw a bit more support because I applied earlier and because I got both of them, it gave me the confidence to apply to this one.”
Both Sa’adat Mohammed and Kella Merlain-Moffatt gained valuable experience by applying for the grant and now have advice they would like to share with other students looking to apply:
“I feel like I always suggest people to write from the heart. I think as far as grant applications go, typically there is a format that you can use that is going to be more successful more often than not. But I think it's really important that when you are approaching anything, that you go with authenticity and that you really explain well what it is that you want to do and why. So that you're doing it not from a place of, like, I just need this money, but from a place of allowing the application reader at the end of the day to see your heart and to see why you're so passionate and to see why it's important that you get this money and yeah, I'll leave with that. What's meant to come to you, will come to you.” - Kella Merlain-Moffatt
“Okay, so I guess I battled with imposter syndrome. Before applying for any of the grants. I did not think I'm going to get it. I did not want to apply for it. And Vandita (Churiwal) kept saying, just go for it, apply for it. Like, even one of the grants that I applied for, I sent it to my professor to go through, and I was just like, I know who I'm up against-- they're brilliant. They have these brilliant topics, and it's just like I was embarrassed to send it to him. I was embarrassed to get him to be my reference because I'm like "he'd be like, no, I can't." But just do it, right? And as Kella said it's the passion. If it's something that you really care about, I feel like it will show through and they'll be able to see that. Yes, if it is something you genuinely care about. Because I didn't think I would get any of them, but, I guess, my topic, I feel really passionate about it and yeah, it's good to get a grant and stuff, right? But it goes beyond that, right? I guess just number one, don't let imposter syndrome get to you. Just apply for it. If it's meant for you, you need to care about it. It's not just, "okay, I just want to travel to wherever and have money" and that's it. You really need to be passionate about what it is that you're doing.” -Sa’adat Mohammed