A First Time Teaching Assignment Like No Other: Vietnam | Global Affairs | Office of the Provost

Neag School alumna Lynna Vo ’24 (ED), ’25 (MA) completes Fulbright year, teaching university and elementary students.

Just a few weeks after graduating from UConn Neag School of Education’s Integrated Bachelor’s/Master teacher preparation program, Lynna Vo ’24 (ED), ’25 (MA), began her first year of full-time teaching on the other side of the globe, in a country she felt unfamiliar with, yet deeply connected to.

Vo, a Fulbright scholar and Vietnamese American from Meriden, Connecticut, served as an English teaching assistant at Hong Duc University in Thanh Hóa City, Vietnam, during the 2025-2026 academic year.

“I feel like it was an experience that was meant for me,” Vo says. “I was excited to challenge myself. I was ready to just take in everything from everyone that I met and every experience that came up.”

The Fulbright Program is a cultural exchange program that provides scholars with merit-based grants to teach or research abroad. Vo says she saw the Fulbright as an opportunity to broaden her horizons and explore her own cultural heritage. Her passion for teaching was inspired by both of her parents’ emphasis on education and seeing a need for more Asian American representation in teaching roles.