REFLECTIONS AS A GLOBAL LEARNING STUDENT
When deciding where I wanted to go to university, what made FIU attractive to me were its Honors College, Global Learning Medallion, FIU in DC, International Relations, and Model U.N. programs, all of which I immediately enrolled in. I am so happy that I chose FIU, because I've been able to take advantage of all its wonderful programs -- and more that I'd never dreamed of -- over the course of my time here. I was excited to start my life in a new country: I had never been to the mainland U.S., and I had never even stepped foot in Miami. Three and a half years later, I can truly say I've lived my life to the fullest while at FIU, and it is in large part due to the Global Learning Medallion and its three key components students must engage with.
Global Perspective: the ability to consider others' unexamined assumptions, conceptions, and beliefs when faced with a complex problem
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When I think of needing a global perspective to face a complex problem, my freshman year immediately comes to mind. I started classes at FIU in August 2020, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. I had planned on moving to Miami, but lockdown restrictions forced me to remain in Spain for my first year. My classes were offered through Zoom in a "live class" format, but, when accounting for the time difference, the Zoom sessions always happened at night for me. My earliest class met on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 8pm for me, right at dinnertime. The late hours often meant I'd be up until 4am just taking classes.
Maintaining this kind of schedule over three semesters (fall 2020, spring 2021, summer 2021) caused physical and mental health issues that worsened the longer the lockdown was in effect and ultimately negatively impacted my academic performance. Many professors automatically assumed I, like my peers, was located within the United States. Taking global learning courses during this time helped me realize that this was, actually, a fair assumption for them to make. Unless I specifically told professors otherwise, how could they know I was in a whole other time zone? They had no reason to assume I was outside of the U.S.. I quickly learned to communicate with my professors so they could understand my situation and we could jointly devise a plan that would help me complete the required work for their courses. If I had not considered professors' assumptions and beliefs ahead of time, I would not have tackled the challenge of navigating schooling during the pandemic as smoothly as I did.
Global Awareness: understanding local and global issues and how they are interconnected
Although many of my Global Learning experiences had global awareness laced throughout, the one that sticks out the most to me was conducting my research project for the FIU JGI Fellowship. I examined the key drivers for JNIM's, an Al-Qaeda affiliated terrorist group in West Africa, expansion and its impact on the U.S.. My research took me on a journey of understanding how local and global issues feed one another, ultimately allowing JNIM to capitalize on them.
JNIM is a group established in 2017 that operates in the tri-border regions of Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger They have two main goals: a) establish Islamic rule in the region and b) expel all foreign influence. In response, the French launched Operation Barkhane and dedicated around 2000 troops to combat terrorism in West Africa. There are also multiple United Nations missions dedicated to a humanitarian response. While the region's stability has always been fragile, instability rose after 2020 when Mali and Burkina Faso experienced a series of coups. The rhetoric among Sahelian/West African governments has recently been anti-Western and anti-French due to the intense colonial history left behind. One by one, countries asked France to pull out its troops by 2022. This year, they have asked the United Nations to pull out their missions as well. However, JNIM has taken advantage of the decreased international presence to gain territory, since West African countries do not currently possess the capability to combat JNIM themselves. As such, they have "plugged the hole" by recruiting the Wagner Group, a Russian paramilitary organization, but they have targeted more civilians and used more brutal tactics than French troops did (according to ACLED). The West and its promotion of democracy is losing its footholds in the Sahel, to the point where Niger, considered one of the most stable Sahelian states, experienced a military coup this last summer 2023.
This instability is fertile ground for JNIM, and other terrorist groups in the area, to gain larger control and following as they present themselves to be the only protectors of local populations from the instability caused by government factions. Local issues may seem small and irrelevant at first, but they can quickly make a large impact on the global community. Global issues like working through recent independence and wanting to place distance with Western powers due to colonial history can also have deep ramifications within local communities wondering where they can obtain a semblance of stability.
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Global Engagement: willingness to engage in local, global, international, and intercultural problem solving
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An experience I wasn't able to list as part of the Global Learning program but which I still learned of through my German Language & Culture certificate (which was a GL experience), was my spring 2023 internship with the French-American Chamber of Commerce (FACC) in Miami. At the FACC, my role was as a business development intern and as an executive assistant to the Director of the FACC. The FACC was short-staffed, so it was, quite literally five people in the office (including myself) providing services to over 200 businesses in Miami. One of my main tasks was to manage the employment services that the FACC offered. We would receive resumes and cover letters from French citizens wanting to work or seek an internship in Miami. Then it would be my job to communicate with them and connect relevant candidates to prospective employers. Finding my way around the French and American systems of employment was just one layer of international, multicultural problem solving that I engaged in.
Miami is a unique melting pot of Latin America, the United States and, relevant for my internship, the French (and wider European) communities. A major part of my internship included navigating communication between American, Latino, and French businesses to help create memorable events that would inspire new levels of connection and growth. When the FACC Director interviewed me, I had told her that I didn't speak French but I would be willing to work through the language barrier. Even with that disadvantage, the Director saw me as a good fit based on my globally focused profile. I adapted quickly to the corporate culture "shocks" found in French businesses. But I could not have done that if I had not learned to consciously maintain global awareness and keep a global perspective. I certainly have the Global Learning program, and my other global engagements, to thank for that quality.
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How I Plan to Act as a Global Citizen Post-Graduation​
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The Global Learning Medallion has cemented my decision to be as global a citizen as possible. In my personal life, I will keep strengthening my German skills to reach a B2 or C1 level in addition to learning a fifth new language down the road (I haven't decided yet, too many good ones to pick from!). Since I have only traveled around Europe, I want to expand my travel to other continents and see what more the world has in store. I am already planning a trip to Mexico to visit a friend from IBlieve within the next 2 years, and hopefully in 4-5 years or so I can do a 3 week tour of India with another IBlieve friend who grew up there. I also want to solo travel briefly a few times to challenge myself.
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In academics, I plan on attending lectures, events, and panels that are either centered on an international theme (culture, politics, economics, environment, etc.) or have a component informed by diversity of thought and experience. I value these types of events because you get to hear different sides of the same issue. I would also continue to act as a global citizen because I would like to pursue a Master's degree in abroad. Having lived in Spain and now the U.S. (however briefly), I want to experience life immersed in a new culture, ideally in a country where I don't speak the language super fluently. I want to adapt to a new way of living and thinking. I think that would make me more confident in myself and improve my ability to connect with different people at a deeper level.
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Throughout my professional life, global citizenship would remain fundamental since I want to work in the realm of foreign policy/national security. By definition, my career is internationally focused. However, one thing I want to consciously do is to put myself in/help create spaces/encounters where people from different cultures can come together to collaborate on projects and connect with each other. I already placed myself in such a context during my internship at the French-American Chamber of Commerce, where we had Latin American, the United States, and the European (mostly French) communities constantly interacting, and loved every moment of it. Pursuing opportunities like that one will help keep me easily adaptable and build versatility within my skills. The Global Learning Medallion has given me more ways to apply my passion for global engagement than I've ever had before, and for that, I will be eternally grateful. From the bottom of my heart, thank you to the FIU Global Learning Medallion team for making it the program that it is today <3