Morgan Villavaso is out there living her best life.
Now, she just needs to keep her mother, Chrissy Poole, from “having a heart attack” in the process.
Villavaso, who graduated a semester early — in December 2014 — from Starkville High School and recently earned a bachelor’s degree in sociology from Texas Woman’s College in Denton, Texas, has already traveled to Japan, Brazil and Costa Rica, mostly just for the experiences.
Her newest adventure starts Jan. 1, when she will travel to Malaysia for a 10-month stint as an English teaching assistant funded by a Fulbright English as a Second Language (ESL) grant. The renowned Fulbright scholarship program provides college students opportunities each year to promote international goodwill.
“She loves to do things like this to try to give me a heart attack,” Poole joked. “She’s very driven and always takes her own path. She never lets anyone steer her away from it, no matter how hard they try.”
One more thing Poole notes about her eldest of five children — an “old soul” the family affectionately calls “Grandma” — is Villavaso “has a heart as big as Texas.” That wraps back to why she wants to go to Malaysia in the first place.
Villavaso, now studying for the LSAT law school entry exam on top of everything else she has going, aspires to be an attorney focused on international human rights. She sees her upcoming time in the Fulbright program as a way to learn more about different cultures, then advocate for better tolerance and understanding of those cultures back home.
“One of the things I like most about the Fulbright program is it promotes partnerships between nations and rejects imperialism,” said Villavaso, 22. “… The primary reason I wanted to go to Malaysia is it’s so richly multi-cultural. There are many major religions practiced there and lots of ethnic groups. There will be a lot to learn.
“Anything I can do over there that I can use to help somebody over here better understand other cultures, that’s what I’m doing this for,” she added. “At home and abroad, for example, Islamophobia is still an issue, and there is a large Islamic population in Malaysia. Freedom of religion is a basic human right, and people should be able to practice their religion without fear. That’s not always the reality here or a lot of other places.”
Villavaso’s exposure to international cultures began when she was a small child. Her paternal grandmother, Cindy Villavaso, would “adopt” international students who studied Mississippi State University and attended St. Joseph Catholic Church in Starkville.
“There were always international students over at her house having coffee or studying,” Morgan said.
By the time Morgan reached college, she pursued her passion for international human rights work full bore. She worked as a legal assistant for two years for a law firm that specialized in veteran law and six months volunteering as an ESL teacher with the Workers Defense Project — a nonprofit that empowers low-wage workers. In Texas, Morgan said, she worked primarily with immigrants from Mexico and Latin America.
As part of her undergraduate studies, she completed a research project on the evolution of women’s political and economic rights around the world that she presented in New York to the American Sociological Association.
When Morgan lands in Malaysia, she’ll spend three weeks training before she’s sent to her assigned location to help teach English to middle school and high school children. That will culminate a months-long application process for the Fulbright program that included interview panels, essay submissions and so much more.
There were times Morgan thought, even if just in the back of her mind, she may not get in. Poole never doubted for a moment.
“Anything she puts her mind too, she does it very well,” Poole said.
Morgan is quick to credit that to her mother, a nurse practitioner at Urgent Care in Starkville. Poole was younger than the average mother when she had Morgan, but she still pressed on to earn her education and build a successful career while helping guide her growing family.
“I have always respected the fact she never accepted when people told her she couldn’t do something and how she never compromised her goals for anyone, whether it was being a mom or getting her education,” Morgan said. “That’s definitely something that’s helped drive me.”
Zack Plair is the managing editor for The Dispatch.
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