Albee Mote, Leon Jones III and Joseph Schmitt are among 150 students from 38 countries who will study at Tsinghua University in Beijing.
A Northeastern University senior and two graduates were recently awarded prestigious Schwarzman Scholarships, which fully fund a year of global affairs study in Beijing.
Albee Mote, Leon Jones III and Joseph Schmitt are among 150 students from 38 countries who will begin their studies at Schwarzman College in Tsinghua University in August.
As Schwarzman Scholars, they will earn a master’s degree in global affairs while gaining unique exposure to China and global thought leaders.
Mote, set to graduate in May with a degree in social innovation and entrepreneurship, says she has always wanted to explore China as a fourth-generation Chinese Burmese.
“I was looking for opportunities for my next step,” she says. “China is a place that I’ve always wanted to explore because of my heritage.”
Mote is interested in exploring how she could propel forward economic cooperation and cultural exchange between Myanmar and China in the future.
“I want to be that bridge to both,” she says. “And, of course, also incorporate some of the best Western practices to work on sustainable businesses across countries.”
A first-generation college student, Mote has always aspired to be an entrepreneur like her parents. In high school, she co-founded an online bakery in Mandalay, Myanmar, successfully running it for two years.
Living through the 2021 coup in Myanmar solidified her desire to create meaningful impact. At Northeastern, she discovered that entrepreneurism could be both profitable and positively impact communities through social innovation.
“That was when I realized that this is something I could try,” Mote says.
Mote did a co-op at Folia Materials, a clean-tech startup that develops environmentally friendly paper alternatives to plastic. Mote contributed both to day-to-day operations of the company and strategic planning.
There, Mote also learned about another project — Folia Water — which is distributing an innovative antimicrobial paper water filter in Bangladesh, providing universal access to clean drinking water for low-income populations.
Mote hopes to return to Myanmar one day, she says, to help create a more stable and sustainable future, facilitating meaningful change in the country.
Jones, a third-generation graduate of a historically Black college from Arkansas, came to Northeastern for the university’s master’s program in media advocacy. He sees his purpose in reaching people and bringing diverse perspectives into public discourse, he says.
“Growing up, sometimes I didn’t see myself reflected in conversations and I don’t think that I saw a lot of perspectives out there,” he says. “The advocacy [for me] comes from wanting to always improve upon [existing circumstances] and always wanting to speak up for folks who are unheard or ignored.”
Northeastern’s interdisciplinary program turned out to be a great fit for him, Jones says, as it provided both broad applications and valuable specialized skills.
“I felt that was something that would make me more competitive in the job market going forward,” Jones says. “And I was able to find good employment afterwards in a field that I wanted to be in.”
While at Northeastern, he did press internships with U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnocks in Washington, D.C., and state Sen. Liz Miranda in the Massachusetts Statehouse. Jones currently works for Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell.
Jones saw the Schwarzman Scholarship as an opportunity to engage with top young leaders from around the world. He wants to explore how different societies address various issues and hopes these relationships will lead to collaborations in future.
“There are a lot of things that I want to get to … where I can make a positive impact on the communities that I really care about,” Jones says. “Going to China and being in a community with other folks … and getting to collaborate, learn from one another and ask questions in pursuit of solutions, I think that and cultural immersion and exchange will be a benefit to me and will also give me a leg up in coming home and helping to find solutions to some of our most pressing issues.”
Schmitt graduated from the D’Amore-McKim School of Business in 2020 with a bachelor’s degree in finance and economics.
Originally from a small Wisconsin town on Lake Michigan, he began his Northeastern journey on the London campus and participated in Dialogues of Civilizations in Scotland and Ghana.
“As an undergrad, I was continually searching for ways to take advantage of the abundant opportunity to deepen my understanding of the world through travel and study in other countries,” Schmitt says.
He also completed three co-ops, including positions at Boston Consulting Group and PriceWaterHouse Cooper, where he later began his career in the mergers and acquisitions consulting.
In 2022, Schmitt traveled to Zambia on a Fulbright grant to conduct economic research on the perceived impact of ecotourism in remote villages. There he met Dora Nyambe, a local educator whose story inspired Schmitt to write a book, “Under a Zambian Tree.” The book, which has sold in over 21 countries, supported Nyambe’s nonprofit organization.
Schmitt works at Kohler, an American manufacturing corporation, as a business development manager of the in-house startup, Innovation for Good, bringing innovative sanitation and hygiene solutions to developing markets.
He spends much of his time traveling across Africa and Asia collaborating with governments, NGOs and private entities to develop new toilet and handwashing technologies for rural communities.
“It’s something I’m very passionate about,” Schmitt says.
However, Schmitt has never had a chance to work in China. Studying in China, he says, will allow him to better understand its economy, culture, regulatory system and its influence on other nations.
After completing his master’s program in Beijing, Schmitt hopes to become a liaison between U.S. companies and organizations and developing economies as they tackle complex business and social challenges.
Alëna Kuzub is a Northeastern Global News reporter. Email her at a.kuzub@northeastern.edu. Follow her on X/Twitter @AlenaKuzub.
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