I chose Global Liberal Studies because of the opportunity to learn outside of a traditional classroom. GLS allowed me to spend a semester at the NYU Shanghai campus and a year at the NYU Buenos Aires site, where I interned with an international NGO. Throughout my time in the program (especially abroad), I learned through daily interactions and was able to contextualize the effects of politics and history to gain a better understanding of contemporary issues. Everyone from my host families, professors, internship directors, and new friends contributed to my personal and intellectual growth and expansion.
GLS allowed me to get comfortable with being uncomfortable. The incredible professors and supportive classmates gave me the environment I needed to put myself out there and not be afraid to be wrong, in order to know better and do better. In the classroom, my ideologies and understanding of the world were challenged, and these last four years gave me the tools and critical thinking skills to see new possibilities for addressing local and global issues. And for pathways yet to be imagined, I learned how to envision them by prioritizing and uplifting the voices of local people to create new solutions. Most importantly, I learned how to hold myself accountable to the impact of my actions over my good intentions.
Thanks to my international orientation and interdisciplinary lens of studies at NYU, I received the Rotary International Global Grant Scholarship to attend SOAS University of London to pursue a master's in Humanitarianism, Aid, and Conflict. I am confident that GLS planted the seed needed for me to continue to question, explore, and thrive in this next chapter.