WHO WE ARE

Hi! My name is Aleks Copeland, and I started The Lighthouse Fund. First of all, thank you for taking the time to explore the website and get involved-- you are the reason we can do what we do! As for my story…

• I began self-studying the field of anthropology during my sophomore year due to my interest in the humanities. However, anthropology led me to the rediscovery of my Macedonian roots. Although I grew up with an immigrant mother from Macedonia, my childhood was largely removed from the culture and heritage that make the country so special. This renewed interest in my parentage allowed me to take a life-changing trip to Skopje, Macedonia’s capital, in which I stayed with my native grandmother, conducted my own cross-cultural comparative study with a local professor, and lived my daily life in a foreign country. It was jarring at first, but I left with more perspective than I had ever had before.

• So why is this important? My stay in Macedonia included learning conversational Macedonian, a small Slavic language spoken by roughly 2 million people. Multilingualism-- especially in daily immersion-- was an extremely difficult skill to pick up, and it left me with renewed sympathy for those that struggle to deal with language barriers similar to mine every day. After returning and finishing my study, I set out to create The Lighthouse Fund in order to overcome linguistic, cultural, and social barriers facing non-English speaking immigrants in the USA.