Hello! My name is Kendall Gardner, and I am a rising junior at Tulane. I am a member of the Altman Program in International Studies and Business, so I am pursuing a dual degree from the liberal arts and business schools! I’m majoring in International Relations and Legal Studies in Business with a potential minor in Arabic. I’ll be spending my entire junior year abroad, starting in Jordan and ending in Paris! This summer, I will be interning at the United States Department of State in Washington, D.C., and I cannot wait to begin making strides in my international career.
I will be interning with the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs in the Office of the Executive Director. Basically, I’ll be spending my summer working on U.S. foreign policy in the Bureau that shapes our country’s stance on the Middle East and North Africa. I’m beyond excited to spend a summer in the city of my dreams, as I’m from Indianapolis and I’ve never really had an opportunity like this before. I’ve only been to D.C. once, during my senior year of high school, and I’ve been waiting to go back ever since!
I have much to learn this summer, but my 5 learning objectives are:
- Increase my professional self-awareness by learning more about what type of career I would like to pursue after graduation and the steps that I will need to take in order to have a career in International Affairs.
- Increase my knowledge of the Middle East and of U.S. relations with specific countries in the region.
- Enhance my networking capabilities in order to meet professionals that live in D.C. and work in my desired field.
- Improve my writing skills for the workplace setting, rather than exclusively for academia.
- Continue to develop Arabic proficiency by requesting to research in Arabic for my assignments.
Not only will my internship with the State Department be exciting, but I will be advancing NCI’s mission throughout my time at the Bureau. International politics is a male-dominated field, especially within the realm of Middle East policy. One of my personal goals is to encourage women to embark on political career paths, and I hope that my experience this summer will be my first step towards breaking down the barriers facing women in my fields of interest. Additionally, part of my desire to work in Middle East policy stems from my wish to improve the status of women in the region. I hope to use diplomacy and international policy to advocate for women’s rights, especially in the Middle East and South-Central Asia. This internship program will be a stepping stone in my career, giving me an ability to make a difference in the lives of women abroad and an ability to make strides in a male-dominated field. By interning with the State Department, I will be learning to be a 21st-century leader, while working with foreign policy experts who already are!
