Lauren Higbee, (MA ‘13), has a passion for the arts and research that geared her toward the exciting opportunity to teach English to children in Seoul, South Korea. Growing up in Jacksonville, Lauren knew that she wanted to study art history since high school. She went on to receive both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in art history from Florida State University. Although her original goal was to carry her schooling to the doctoral level, Lauren decided to set aside that plan and travel 7,ooo miles across the globe.
Lauren has been able to utilize her degrees in Art History to get involved with the program that sent her to Seoul, South Korea. As more of an experience to Lauren than an end-game, the program covered flight and housing fees, offered a salary including health benefits, and allowed teachers almost full autonomy over their classrooms—all of which contributed to Lauren’s five year stay in Seoul. She taught third to sixth grade at two different schools, the latter of which compelled her to study the language in order to better communicate with both her students and coworkers. She became proficient in reading and writing Korean, and is now able to speak at a conversational level.
Seoul is a cleaner version of New York City in Laurens perspective, complete with the most efficient public transportation system in the world, despite its extremely dense population. Traveling across Asia, visiting the expansive, state-run art museums, and getting to know Seoul were experiences Lauren deeply enjoyed; however, like many, she grew weary of the city life, and decided to move again.
Now in Tallahassee, Lauren landed her current position as an adviser in the Department of Computer Science at Florida State University, and is considering going back to school for a degree in Library and Information Science.
Student Authors: Raven Halle, Anna Covart,