« Previous Story | Next Story »

February 20, 2006

A broad range of international careers are explored on the D.C. Career Trip

Fletcher School students explored the broad range of career opportunities in Washington D.C. last week during the annual Career Trip organized by The Fletcher School’s Office of Career Services. Panels of alumni, site visits, and networking receptions showed students the many oaths alumni have taken since graduation and gave insights on possible careers and internships.

The trip started on Thursday, February 16, with site visits at various federal and international agencies, including the U.S. Agency for International Development, the Office of Management and Budget, the State Department and Capitol Hill. The World Bank and International Finance Corporation, non-profit organizations such as Save the Children and Development Alternatives, Inc., and private firms such as the Scowcroft Group and DFI, also hosted Fletcher students interested in working outside of government.

Students attended panel discussions featuring Fletcher alumni who spoke about their professional experiences and how their education at Fletcher helped shape their careers.

At the State Department panel, James and Mary Warlick, both 1980 graduates of The Fletcher School and holding directorship positions in the Office of European Security and Political Affairs and Office of Russian Affairs, respectively, gave some pointers to students planning to take the U.S. Foreign Service exam. At the panel discussion that followed, Foreign Service Officers, including Tania Chomiak-Salvi (F’93) and Ellen Shaw (F’99), spoke about how The Fletcher School’s multi-disciplinary approach to international relations has helped them tackle the different challenges that have arisen in their overseas assignments.

On Thursday night, the Embassy of Hungary hosted the DC Alumni-Student Networking Reception, where students had the opportunity to meet and link up with the nearly 200 alumni and other guests who attended the event.

The Hon. Wolfgang Ischinger, Ambassador of Germany to the U.S., delivered the keynote speech during the event. A Fletcher alumnus and a member of its Board of Trustees, Ambassador Ischinger spoke about the summer and fall of 1989 when the Hungarian people cut the barbed wire of the Iron Curtain and helped large groups of East German refugees cross the border to Austria.

Ambassador Ischinger said that these heroic deeds eventually led to the fall of the Berlin Wall and the reunification of Germany and of the European continent. Hungarian Ambassador to the U.S. András Simonyi honored Ambassador Ischinger on the occasion of the end of his tour of duty in Washington with the 1989 Commemorative Coin "Hungarian Republic".

The Fletcher School’s Senior Associate Dean, Deborah Nutter, said that while the students should make the most out of the networking opportunity provided by the Career Trip, they should be reminded to repay their predecessors’ kindness by helping the next generation “according to the Fletcher spirit”.

Raya Widenoja, a first-year MALD student, found the Career Trip to be an excellent opportunity to gain professional contacts. "The alumni really are an amazing resource - the DC trip drove that home. Thank heavens so many of them remember Fletcher with affection even after many years," she said.

The following day, students had the chance to meet other Fletcher alumni during the various information panels held at the Brookings Institution on a diverse set of topics such as International Trade and Commerce, Democratization and Civil Society, Humanitarian Assistance, Security and Intelligence and the Environment. Other students used their time in DC to network with potential employers or line up summer internship positions.

For international students, the trip was also educational in other ways. Ha Nguyen, a first-year MALD student from Vietnam, said the trip enabled her to gain first-hand insights on the workings of the federal government system and its various offices - an opportunity she said she would not have had “if I had not gone to Fletcher.”

By Sharon R. Rivera, MALD '07

Posted by jessica at February 20, 2006 10:17 AM