Class Year:
Senior
Interests:
International Relations, Arabic, Globalization Studies
Dream Job:
Foreign Service Director
Language At Governor's School:
Arabic
Why did you apply to the Pennsylvania Governor’s School for Global and International Studies?:
While I have had a broad idea of my future career field for several years, I knew I had to specialize it before applying to schools. Governor’s School struck me an opportunity to identify my focus for studies at college and to apply my passion for global affairs to specific subject ranges, which ended up being language and diplomacy. I have grown up in a small town, limiting my global lens, but I knew that attending a program like Governor’s School would allow me to spend time with likeminded individuals with backgrounds far different from my own.
What would you say to a student questioning whether or not they should apply to the Governor’s School?:
Students may see the four-week duration of the program as a sacrifice, but, personally, the program was the highlight of my summer—possibly even the highlight of my high school career. Any passions that a student has before attending Governor’s School will only multiply with exposure to the facts and faces behind such issues. Students will meet lifelong friends, because, in just four weeks, we bonded with one another to the point where I was learning beside my brothers and sisters. The duration of the program, its isolation from home, and the independence it required students to embrace, were not difficult obstacles; the hardest part was saying goodbye.
Describe a memorable experience while attending the Governor’s School. :
The Fourth of July, my first national holiday away from home, was the highlight of my social adventure at Governor’s School. We hiked to a summit to watch fireworks over the Pittsburgh skyline, playing frisbee and throwing a football until it got dark. We had gone shopping for light up necklaces and flags beforehand, and the whole group spent the night laughing, singing, and celebrating our own independence as students and as sons and daughters together. Academically, my favorite memory includes the hours of choreography that the Arabic class put into learning our traditionally-rooted dance.
What is one thing that you learned that impacted you? Or that you took home and utilized to make an impact in your community?:
The best concept that I took away from Governor’s School was that of being “glocal”. This word, referring to the application of global concepts to a small-scale community, has motivated me to think about the grassroots foundations upon which most social issues rest. Before our global issues class, my global lens was not very practical; I like to think that our time learning about being glocal has conditioned me to better understand the local causes of broader concepts.
Anything else you would like to say?:
Words cannot explain the bonds that are formed within such a short four-week program. You will be surrounded with other young people that think the same way as you, that perceive the world around them to be as in need of political support as you perceive it to be. You will learn beside them, argue with them, explore with them, and fall asleep on a couch with them at four in the morning. I have kept in touch with many Governor’s School students, and, even though many of them live five hours away, I know the bonds that we formed are not temporary. To everyone involved in bringing the program to fruition, especially the teachers and RA’s: Thank you not only for strengthening my political interests, but also for introducing me to some of the best people whom I have ever had the pleasure of knowing.