Julia Prager-Hessel is the Deputy Communications Director for a Member of the U.S. House of Representatives, serving in the U.S. Congress. Three years ago, she served as an English Teaching Assistant at Gymnázium Chotěboř. In November 2022, she hosted an unforgettable Thanksgiving for her Czech students, colleagues, and fellow grantees who had no plans for the holiday. What seemed a Herculean task at first turned into “cultural exchange in its purest form: joyful, messy, loud, communal, and, true to Thanksgiving culture and Czech cuisine alike, punctuated by a ton of heavy food,” complete with traditions and Cotton-Eye Joe dancing. Because of this and many other experiences, the town of fewer than 10,000 grew close to Julia’s heart. She returns whenever possible: “Chotěboř grounds me, and reminds me why I do the work I do, why community matters, why listening matters, why showing up matters.” Three Thanksgivings ago, I stood at the back of the attic event hall in Panský Dům,...
Jaké je to být Fulbrighterem. What it is like to be a Fulbrighter.