Meet the 2024 Shansi Fellows to China
Meet our newest Shansi Fellows to China! Haley Sablay ‘23 and Nissa Berle ‘24 will both teach English at Shanxi Agricultural University, our historical partner.
Haley Sablay (she/her) ‘23 majored in Sociology and double minored in Comparative American Studies and Politics. At Oberlin, Haley participated in numerous leadership opportunities that nurtured her passion for community-building, serving as the Co-Chair of the Asian Diaspora Coalition, Program Coordinator and Historian of La Alianza Latinx, Resident Assistant of Asia House, Communications Liaison for the Filipino American Students Association, and Accessibility Coordinator for Third World Cooperative. Her commitment to community expands outside of Oberlin College. In 2020, Haley worked at a COVID-19 testing and vaccination site with Community Organized Relief Effort (CORE) and served as a tutor with the Northeast Los Angeles (NELA) Impact assisting elementary school students in her home city of Los Angeles, California. Furthermore, Haley’s previous roles as an Asian Student Mentor, Program Assistant at the Multicultural Resource Commons, and the Sociology Department Student Assistant exemplify her commitment to mentorship and community care. Currently, Haley works as an English Language Instructor at Shanxi Agricultural University where she hopes to continue building friendships and strengthening her teaching skills.
Nissa Berle (they/any) ‘24 is an Oberlin Psychology major and Linguistics minor. They are from the small town of White Bluff, TN, where they grew up on a hobby farm raising chickens and ducks, playing soccer, and enjoying the outdoors through scouts. At school, they are part of the Flaming Blades fencing club, are an instructor for FenceCo, and are conducting an honors research project in positive bystander intervention. They studied abroad in Sweden and enjoyed learning about Swedes’ values, which led to their desire to live abroad long-term. They took Mandarin in their first two years at Oberlin, which ignited their interest in Chinese culture, and they enjoyed the opportunity to participate and share in the festivals as part of their classes. Their love for teaching began through the Language Pedagogy course and continued into being a Writing Associate. Given their rural background and interest in cross-culture comparison, Nissa is excited to visit the farming museum at Shanxi Agricultural University and connect with locals to learn about rural life in China.