50 Stories for 50 Years: Judit Hegedus '92

To celebrate our 50th anniversary year during 2018/19, we collected stories and profiles of people and institutions that have helped us build our organization, which first began as one person's dream in 1968. We will feature one story per week on our blog. Please enjoy these “50 for 50” profiles featuring ASSIST's dedicated board members, dynamic staff, welcoming host families and enthusiastic ASSIST Scholars.

Judit Hegedus '92
Hungary, Deerfield Academy

One day in Hungary in the 1980's, I was looking through a book about America. The book was filled with beautiful pictures, and one of them depicted a small town in New England in the fall, with the vibrant colors of the foliage framing a white-steepled church. One day, I would like to be in a place like this, I thought.

Fast-forward a few years. At age 17, in the spring of 1991, I heard of an organization called ASSIST offering the opportunity to go to the U.S. for a school year. The competition from Hungary was fierce; this was only two years after the fall of the Iron Curtain in 1989. There was much pent-up demand for opportunities to learn languages and get to know other cultures. I felt incredible joy when I received the envelope notifying me I'd won a spot on the 1992 Hungarian ASSIST delegation.

In the fall of 1992, I found myself in a New England town exactly like the one I'd seen in that photo years before. At Deerfield Academy in Deerfield, Massachusetts, I got to experience a completely different academic environment from the one I had been accustomed to in Hungary: regular small group discussions, intensive essay writing, and constant learning about and synthesizing new perspectives. After my year at Deerfield, I returned to Hungary. But I knew I wanted to return to the U.S. for college to challenge myself even further.

I attended Stanford University—another great experience. I spent most of the next 20 years in the U.S. I found a wonderful career in international education, working as an executive at the College Board in New York. I also served on the Alumni Executive Committee of Deerfield Academy for 6 years during this time, further strengthening my connection to the school.

Now that I've returned to Hungary, it's an important goal of mine to ensure that more students can take advantage of an ASSIST opportunity in the coming years to broaden their horizons just as I was able to broaden mine. Looking back, my ASSIST year laid the foundation for me to become the person I am today.

About Judit:
For over 20 years, Judit has worked to increase the effectiveness of organizations in the private, public, and civil spheres. Judit graduated with a bachelor's degree in economics and a master's degree in international policy studies from Stanford University and later received her MBA from Columbia University. She began her career as a management consultant, first in Central Europe and then in New York, supporting clients in the public sector in the areas of strategy and implementation. Judit also served as an internal management consultant for the United Nations, where she specialized in change management. She then spent a decade working in education, focusing on global student mobility and international secondary education with the non-profit College Board in New York. Most recently, Judit has worked to support EU-funded innovation projects in Eastern and Central European countries. Judit currently lives in Budapest, Hungary.