Posts

Today I listened to a webinar about the Ohio Latino Affairs Commission. I learned that it is funded by the state and that it works with other minority groups in Ohio, which are not yet funded. Things that they do are advice the governor and legislature on issues that affect latinos, connect individual latino organizations across the state,  and as the speaker said “build capacity.” I assume this meant that the commission builds a bridge between the Latino community and the state. She also spoke about some facts I thought were worth mentioning. There are currently 1/2 million Latinos in Ohio, and most of them are a  young population averaging in age at about 24 years old. As is expected, not everyone is from Mexico. A lot from Puerto Rico as well. They are monitoring people everywhere: from Central/South America, Caribbean, Haiti, etc. Not all of these countries are Spanish speaking and all have different backgrounds, but it doesn’t make them any less Latino. She also addresses that migration has decreased recently and there has been a lot of reverse migration (returning to their homeland), which I thought was particularly interesting. She says the goal of the commission is to bring the new population to be a part of mainstream society in the USA. They track advisory matters, legislations, bills, etc. and hope to teach incoming migrants about how to advocate for themselves, participate in civic engagement, and “how to become an American.” To be in the commission, you need to be of latino heritage, and they have internships available as well. This applies fairly obviously to international affairs: how to integrate an international community into the USA. This applies to the scholars group because it is educating us on the topic of minority/international engagement in law and society. It is a reminder to always be ready to help and promote the advocacy of those who are in need of a voice.

I listened into a webinar that spoke about women who had careers in law, who ended up joining the foreign service. They spoke about how their education in law dramatically helped them in their new career, and how they still kept their law degree “active,” so that (should something happen to prevent them from continuing the FS job) they had something to fall back on. They said that most of them don’t really plan on going back to law, but most of them wouldn’t change their past (ie. not go to law school). Only one woman said she wouldn’t go back to law school, and this was because she felt no passion or purpose in the field, and because it was a VERY expensive choice. “Make sure you really want to be a lawyer,” is more-or-less what she said.

The reason I watched this webinar was because I have recently been considering doing international law instead of being in the foreign service. I believed law would be a better choice after listing pros and cons, but the talk of cost and their indirect negativity towards law was throwing me off. I think this is still something that I am struggling with – though part of me still moves towards international law now. I like the idea of serving my country and protecting others and having the government pay for school, but I don’t like the idea of not knowing when I’ll see my family, missing important milestones because of work, and not being able to hold a stable relationship. They talked about being married and divorced within their careers, and I hope to not have my work impact my life in that way. However, I am still young and the world is unknown. We will just have to see what happens.

I watched a webinar that discussed major changes in German politics, and how it seems like their “three-legged chair” (alliances with China, Russia, USA) is now broken. It was also interesting to learn about their recent foreign-assisted investment into their military (I believe I remember them saying it was an investment of millions, if not billions, of dollars). This investment is due to their new realization that – should Russia attempt invasion of Germany – they are not at all equipped militarily to take down the country. I believe they said the size of their whole military is equivalent to the size of the US Marine Corp, which is terrifying to consider with the current events taking place. This is an important webinar to be a part of, because not only does it relate to international affairs, it also relates to the current status of our world. This investment and the ongoing political turbulence all has influence on the stability and peace of the European continent, if not the world. It relates to me, specifically, in a loser sense: I feel invested in German politics due to my CBYX study abroad in the country, and I do want to work in the international security scene when I am older.

This month I was fortunate enough to listen to a webinar given by the Chargé d’Affaires of the U.S. Embassy in Belarus, Jeffrey Giauque. He spoke about several things, such as his time abroad in Belarus and Croatia, general information about foreign service diplomats, and the obstacles one might face while working in the field. Some things that I thought were interesting were that he spoke of needing to work 16-18 hours a day, which I had for some reason not expected. I also thought it interesting when he spoke about issues like finding a work-life balance, spousal employment issues, and sometimes needing to represent beliefs that you do not agree with. I liked learning more about internship possibilities and about what his advice was on prerequisites before joining the service or taking the FSOT. He spoke of needing “post-undergrad” experiences to do better on the exam (peace corp, NGO, grad school, law school, etc.) and have a better shot at entering the force. I also thought it was interesting when he spoke more at length about the corruption he’s seen in Belarus and the issues regarding the president and elections.

This webinar relates to international affairs pretty obviously. It also relates to me in the future, because I hope to become either a diplomat or lawyer when I am older (or possibly both, now that I am debating post-undergrad education). It helped me a lot actually in regard to getting a feel of whether or not this is the right path for me. Especially in today’s climate, where everything is like walking on egg shells, it shed light on what my future might look like. Now, it is up to me to decide whether I would like that or not.

As far as the scholars group goes, it relates on networking and speaking about current events Internationally, and I think that this webinar is valuable in general to – not just those considering the foreign service. It talks about the need to constantly be prepared, to make sure you can elevator pitch your ideas, keep writing precise and short, and be confident.

Today, I was a part of a meeting where Rachel Hatch was the moderator for the topic of the Peace Corp. Rachel is a returned Peace Corp volunteer (from Mongolia – “Land of the Blue Sky”). During her service, she taught English at a local high school (she didn’t know Mongolian to begin her experience there; she also lived with a host family that she still keeps in contact with).

The main aspect of the Peace Corp seemed to be us helping people in INTERESTED countries. Meaning, we have to be invited; we cannot simply enter and take over aspects of their community or education. The Peace Corp helps with community, health, youth, economic, agriculture, environmental, and educational development. There was an emphasis on using the experience through the program to build lasting relationships and strong intercultural ties. They also spoke of getting rid of stereotypes, etc. on both sides of the scale. The additional people speaking at the webinar were volunteers for areas like Mozambique, Namibia, Eswatini, and the Dominican Republic. They all had strong ties and passions for helping others, traveling, and helping to promote other cultures.

This webinar in general relates to international relations fairly obviously. Not only it is volunteer work on an international scale, but it is also learning about other cultures and forming new perspectives/thoughts/views on topics through a more in depth look on something in a way different than you are used to. I think this is definitely something that I am interested in. I’m just not sure yet how I want to tie this into my future. God willing, I will be able to do something like these people did and make a world of a difference in a small community.

For this month’s post, I decided to do another second. year series because of the importance of finding myself a second year project. Now that I am VP of Academics for my sorority, I am not allowed to study abroad next year, which leaves me in a tough spot, considering that was my intention for this project. Hoping to get some inspiration, I went to this month’s meeting, to which this was the summary:

1. a girl took part in breast cancer research, where she studied the use of music in non-pharmacologic treatments (to treat side effects of some breast cancer medications). I though that was interesting, but I at first I didn’t understand how this would be considered a project because of the international affairs aspect. I was expecting a vague “there is breast cancer everywhere” response, but instead received a well-thought-out response. She spoke of international players in this research (a professor in England) and it got me thinking about how important global differences and perspectives are in these situations – but also in a sense that is not limited to health care. She also spoke about how due to the research, she now hopes to study abroad in Japan, experience the culture and their healthcare system, which is another form of international affairs furthering its involvement in a possible career path.
2. another girl took part in STEP to study abroad in South Korea. In the end, the applications and the process for attaining the trip counted as the IA second year project, even though the study abroad got cancelled for her. I feel like the international affairs aspect to this is fairly obvious, so I will not elaborate. She did, however, say that she hopes to do an internship abroad eventually now that her original trip was called off.

The idea of internships got me thinking, so I did research on Department of Defense and State Department internships. Their international affairs impact is obvious I would assume. It struck me as odd that most of the scholarships/internships were not put up for this year (ex: the Summer Rangel Enrichment Scholarship is not up for the upcoming year, etc.). It also struck me as odd how they varied in paid vs. unpaid programs, and what the application requirements were (the screenings and whatnot). I hope to (1) find an internship to which I am eligible, since most of the ones I have found are either closed or for seniors and (2) through this process figure out if the on-going idea of internships discussed at this meeting is something I could use for my second year project as well.

Till next time!

Hello, everyone. I am back from the dead and ready to take on my sophomore year of college.

To kickstart my sophomore year, I decided to do a blog post related directly to IA Scholars: The Second Year Series. For the second year series meeting, they were talking about the upcoming second year project.

Throughout the meeting, the panelists spoke about the projects they created and what the process looked like for each of them. I like the idea of Virtual Student Federal Service – the one Emma spoke about. I think it is too late for me to apply to that know, since the website looks like it says the deadline was July 31st. Nevertheless, it got me thinking back to my CLS program that I did this summer, and also possibly applying for another program or an internship similar to this.

I thought the conversation of setbacks was interesting. Lily spoke of some of her setbacks being the inconsistency with others when it came to responses. I believe that what she said about being “slightly annoying” by reminding others of your questions/etc. is important for both the project and in general life. Especially in your career, no one is going to remember your every question or babysit you. If you want to get somewhere, you will need to double down on the effort. Emma says she had to deal with timezone differences and issues with fitting two different place/timezones into her schedule. I had similar obstacles with my CLS program (being in the Croatian timezone, while needing to keep tabs on the US and Jordanian time zones). This will be especially important in my future, as I hope to do international travel with my career. She also said she had to “stop” conversations when they were getting controversial. Time management was a problem as well. I think this is all relevant to general life as well as international affairs. When people are virtual and in different countries timing is important, but so is consistency and proper communication. Sometimes things can be misinterpreted or certain topics can be more sensitive than others. This is all a part of growing as people and learning to interact cross-culturally.

Till next time!

Our last community meeting had a guest speaker who introduced us to the Dayton Peace Museum. He said that, although a fortune 500 place might be more “lucrative,” he is content with where he works and “sleeps better at night” knowing that he works for a group that has good intentions. He then went on to explain that the museum is a nonprofit, and that it has been developed and adapted to the times in the 17 years that it’s been in place here in Dayton. He addressed that the creation of this museum was by a farmer and his wife, who after spending time helping people in Ukraine and Russia with farming, decided that Dayton needed to have another attraction within it apart of what was already there: more specifically, the Air Force Museum. As he explains, one of the biggest militaristic museums in the world is in Dayton, and the couple decided that there needed to be a contrast to that museum. Thus, the Peace Museum was born.

The Peace Museum, as he addresses, is not against military (which I think was important to note), but is instead anti-war and has been developed into wanting to stress the idea of positive peace. They like to center their discussions on more than just the bare minimum, as they have been ready to address WW2, the bombings in Japan, the issues on January 6th, gun control, the history of redlining, and more. They are also excited to be moving the museum to a more populated area that is located closer to the center of Dayton. They say this area, Porthouse (if I’m not mistaken), is actually the area where a lot of protests occur. For this reason the guy is excited to get a running start with this new location.

I think it is great that people are finding creative outlets like this in order to promote the idea of education and peace in a more productive way. I am interested in now going there to learn more, and I can’t wait to see how the museum progresses in the future.

As this pertains to IA Scholars and international relations, I think it is important to have places that discuss foreign affairs and historical events that have brought on destruction in a way like this, because this is meant not to solely peace on the disturbances of peace, but (from what I’ve understood) use this museum to find ways to say “now this is how you break that chain and promote a more equal and peaceful way of life.” In this way, international affairs isn’t just learning about what’s wrong with the world, but it is also about learning what we can do to turn the tide and help others.

During the current events catch-up, we learned a lot about a various array of political events, and I personally had not heard of almost any of them until now. The events ranged from Miss Grand Myanmar speaking against alleged atrocities committed by her country’s military, to a decade-long (now Supreme Court) battle with Oracle over copied code in Google’s Android operating system, to celebrities like The Weeknd donating to help people (in this case, Ethiopian people) who are in need of support after they fled their homes. It’s good to see that people are using their platforms to help others and voice their opinions on issues that are occurring around their home countries/personal developments, but I don’t necessarily feel like I know enough information yet to form a solid opinion on any of these issues.

It is, however, important that we realize there are  increasing opportunities for political representation in international issues. It’s really interesting how now more than I’ve ever known before, people are stepping out of their comfort-zones in order to take political action: whether that is fighting for rights to your own personal developments and risking the loss of a suit/reputation, or through the loss of fame/money. I think this presentation is a way to see how international affairs takes place in a more personal setting, and how it isn’t always about one country fighting with (or looking for peace with) another country or its own people. I think it is important to realize this as an IA Scholar, because sometimes we only have a specific picture in our heads of what the world is like, and how IA is involved. Continuing on in my involvement with IA Scholars, I think I’m going to start focusing more on this more personal aspect of international politics instead of the broad topics of conflict between countries and citizens.

In the group meeting, we talked about tips and tricks with LinkedIn, which is incredibly important. It is important as a general student, because once I begin in my field and look for internships, it is important to have a proper LinkedIn profile. I learned that 70% of students have a profile in order to build connections and share ideas, and also share current trends, which was interesting to me. I thought it was informational to learn that this forum is where you show more about yourself via a personal brand (values, passions, what make up you) in a way that is expanded upon outside of your resume.

I didn’t realize how important a personal brand was and how important this site is for hiring/internships. I originally thought that it was just an extra thing that people did (like a business instagram, not too important). I like that we are supposed to add more about us (like to run, like to do stuff with health, etc) and not just giving the blah blah blah about what you’re business experience is. I thought it was useful that she went over profile building with us, which is:

• picture (profile picture is 7x more likely to be viewed)
• summary (bio: promoting your personal brand, what you’re looking for/involved in “energetic, critical thinker that’s passionate about ____”)
• possibly resume??
• education (scholarships, study abroad, etc)
• experience (paid and unpaid – emphasize the most relevant)
• honors and awards (scholarships, dean’s list, academic honors)
• skills (only related to skills you actually have) –> people can endorse those skills for you on LinkedIN
• headline (short, memorable, professional slogan)
• update your status
• collect recommendations
• share your work (writing samples, portfolios, etc)
• use key words in “skills and expertise” section
• manage your endorsements (endorsing others might make them endorse you)

–> making sure you send a note!!! especially if you really want to connect with them (70% more likely for them to connect with you)

–> don’t mass add!! take your time with gaining real connections