 So, hi everybody, my name is Amelia Vanderlaan and I am a US foreign service officer, I am on my third tour. And I feel tremendously lucky that my job is literally to help do outreach around study abroad, diversifying what study abroad looks like where students go. And most importantly, connecting undergraduates and graduate students all across the US with really neat opportunities. For me, I started my State Department career as an intern over 12 years ago, and I did a lot of these State Department exchange programs and they're what led me into the Foreign Service gave me a bite of what was to come in all of the things that I've been doing. And so today what we're going to do is we're going to talk through some of the main program opportunities that are available to you, whether you are currently an undergrad, whether you're a grad student or sort of somewhere in between. But I obviously can't do this alone so I'm actually joined today by my two absolutely fantastic interns who have both successfully studied abroad both gotten great State Department internships and things like that. And we're actually in a better position to tell you how to springboard into the State Department than I am being about 12 years out in terms of the entry stuff. So with that, I'm going to turn it over to Jada to introduce herself, and we'll get this ball rolling. Jada. Hello, everyone, my name is Jada Tanner and I am a junior at George Washington University in Washington DC, majoring in international affairs with the concentration in global public health. And I am also a critical language scholarship alumna for Guangzhou, South Korea for the 2019 cohort, and I am currently a State Department intern in the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. Thank you. Thanks so much, Jada. And now I'm going to turn it over to our other intern, Markel Kelly. Markel, do you want to give us a short introduction on yourself and what you do. Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Markel Kelly. I'm a sophomore international studies major in Portuguese major at Morehouse College. And I'm currently a VSFS intern at the State Department to the ECA study abroad department. And I'm also a yes abroad alumni. Perfect. Thanks so much, guys. So for everybody's awareness sort of on this webinar and call within the State Department, we have an entire Bureau that is simply dedicated to education and cultural affairs. We sort of talk about ourselves as the people movers of the State Department. So in non COVID times, we're generally sending 55,000 people across the globe every single year. And so a lot of the times this is international students coming to the US or people on professional programs, but we actually fund and send 15,000 Americans overseas every single year. We work every year with at least 101 US public and private institutions, but actually it's thousands of institutions across the country. And basically what we're looking to do is to strengthen our relationships with other countries. The way that we do this is on the ground people to people connections so it's folks getting on planes or getting into zoom to sort of make those real last three feet connections. So, in terms of options that kind of exist for you. When you think about study abroad think about study abroad much more as diplomacy and like sort of how you are interacting with this way bigger universe of what's going on. So within our office we actually have two major scholarship programs that kind of help anchor this mobility across the continents. So we have the critical language scholarship program which allows for students to study one of 15 critical needs languages. And we also offer the Gilman scholarship program where students get to pick their study abroad location, and go on short term or long term programs to sort of do programs of their choice. We view study abroad as kind of helping give students the skills they need to be future leaders like these are applicable whether you are a STEM major, whether you are majoring in political science or all of these sort of develop cross cultural competencies and language skills that are going to help you get jobs but also have a really amazing experience making friends overseas. So we always look to our study abroad students the 330,000 of them generally annually has real representatives of the US. So our small office is basically dedicated to helping give Americans resources to get overseas, learning about safety and security, and also finding funding because study abroad can be expensive. So with that will sort of dive into the critical language scholarship program which is one of our main flagship programs. So the way this program works is basically it's a fully funded summer program you do not pay for anything from visa to flight to your home state, everything is covered by the federal government, and it's open to US college and university students either in undergrad or graduate school, who want to learn a less commonly taught language. We are basically designed to pack an entire year's worth of language study into like eight to 10 weeks. And we offer scholarships and the following languages everything from Azerbaijan and Bangladesh to Hindi to Indonesian Persian Punjabi Swahili Turkish and Urdu. So those are all entry level you do not have to have taken a single day of those classes to qualify for critical language scholarship so if you are excited about the prospect of learning a brand new language, you can always apply at those entry levels. We also offer intermediate and advanced study in Arabic, Korean, Russian and Portuguese, as well as Chinese and Japanese. Now, if you're looking at our languages, some have prerequisites where you've had to have studied this a little bit in college, other do not. In terms of our cohorts, we're really proud that they are diverse groups of students. We generally select 550 individuals from all across the US, all 50 states. And about 40% of our CLS students identify as people of color and 24% of students are Pell Grant recipients. And we work with all sorts of institutions. So, so long as you are enrolled as an undergraduate or graduate student, you are good to go. In terms of the application launches, they'll be opening up fall 2021. Usually we launch around in September. And applications are always do mid November. So you can apply by going on to the CLS scholarship.org website, and we always do individualized webinars and any of the languages so say you really want to study or do you. You'll get to talk with past CLS alumni on what that experience was like. But I of course am not an actual participant of CLS and so I'm going to turn it over to Jada to kind of talk about what the program was actually like as a student perspective. Anything else she has to sort of say about what CLS was like for her so Jada, can I turn it over to you. Yes, thank you Amelia so thanks to CLS I was able to study at Chonam University for eight weeks, which is in Gwangju, South Korea. I was very nervous when I was applying because I had only taken about a year's worth of Korean. So I was a beginner, very much so a beginner in Korean, the only thing I was sure that I could do was probably order at a restaurant and they could slightly understand what I wanted. And I was also very nervous because I was going to be staying with a home, a homestay family. Luckily for me my homestay mother was very sweet she had had many study abroad students before. And this was nothing new to her. And of course when we first met it was a lot of pointing and using translation apps so we could understand each other. But it definitely wasn't as nerve wracking as I thought it was going to be. And one thing that I really loved about CLS was that I was able to explore Korea, along with my cohort every week we went on a trip to somewhere, either within Gwangju or in another part of Korea. But I was also able to travel with my friends on different weekends we plan trips on our own which really attested to how my language ability had improved. Because I was booking trips on my own I was calling people trying to book trips, and I was also able to travel with my language partner, which was a student who also attended the local university, who we met once a week and we talked about anything and everything and was also able to travel with me as well. And I think the one thing that was difficult at times was definitely a unique experience was that I was one of the only one of the few black women in my cohort. And so for many of the people that I was encountering specifically in Gwangju because it isn't a huge city it's the city of Korea and that's very small because Korea is a small country itself. So for many people they would just come up to me on the street and ask me questions because they had never met a black woman before and I guess I gave off a very American vibe so they never met a black American before. And I think at first it was a bit, it was a bit scary I mean, I didn't know the language and so I was confused on what they were asking me but it gave me a great opportunity to sort of have those tough conversations about race in America, or about my hair or just any questions they had they were never filled with malice they were just very curious about me and that was a great experience to have and I was able to provide a unique perspective. Students from the university would invite me to their club meetings because they were like they want to hear about your perspective on this like I was invited to English club and hip hop club like just because they knew that I might have an opinion on it. And I think when at when I left Korea I did not realize how much my career had improved until I reflected back on all my photos and the things that I had done and the places that I had gone. And I realized that I come to Korea only really knowing how to order food and I left with the ability to make solo travel plans and really get around Korea on my own if I needed to. And I think something that a lot of people take from CLS that you don't realize is that you learn what it means to represent your country abroad. Like we weren't going there just to frolic around Korea even though I think there was a lot of frolicking around Korea, but we also realized that we were representing our country and then for me I was representing sort of the image they would have a black people that they met in the future and I was very conscious of that. And I think I was very happy that I was able to get that experience. And just to wrap up just one of my favorite I think and most just bizarre experiences that I had in Korea so when I was there was the World Aquatics championship. And which is a competition I never heard of before but maybe if you're into swimming you've heard of it before. And our host university gave us tickets and we were on the bus on the way to the stadium and there was also another woman on the bus who was very obviously not Korean and she was lost and she didn't know where to go. And so we helped translate for her to the bus driver in Korean about where she needed to go and she was one of the Grecian swimmers representing Greece obviously. And so when we got off the bus she was very happy and she's like you guys speak Korean so well thank you for this. And she took a picture with us and we cheered her on during her event while also cheering on Team USA and the Korean team. So thank you. And apply for CLS. Awesome Jada. Thank you so so much. Okay so from CLS we're going to dive into the Gilman program which is another flagship State Department program that we have. Now the thing with Gilman is it's a little bit different than CLS in the sense that you as a student are choosing the program that you go on. So the way Gilman works is it's for undergraduates to study or intern abroad. You can get scholarships up to $5,000 and an additional $3,000 if you're studying a critical needs language. You have to be a Pell Grant recipient. And for your program, if you are at a four year institution it has to be at least three weeks. And students only to level one and level two programs and it has to be credit bearing. So you can do an internship overseas. You can do a year long program. But you're selecting what study abroad program you're going through so you could do something faculty led you could apply for a third party program but there's a lot of versatility within it. So we have a brand new second program that we sort of launched a year and a half ago called the Gilman McCain Scholarship. It's under the Gilman umbrella. The only real difference in terms of the programs is that it provides funding to students whose parents are active duty military. So if any of you guys have active duty parents, you can be on any type of financial aid to apply so if you're a student or if you are getting Pell Grants it doesn't matter. And we generally do our application cycle twice a year applications are currently open and we just extended an extra week because we know whether has been crazy for just about everybody in the country so our applications are due on March 9, but you can be looking ahead so we're basically allowing students to apply for academic year 2021 and 22 spring 2022 programs as well as things in spring and fall. And we really have been trying to be as flexible as humanly possible within our programs for what we're allowing at this time. So this is the Gilman program. One of the really wonderful things about it as a student is you've got pretty good odds of winning a Gilman recipient to applicant ratio is about one to four. And students come from all sorts of different institutions. We have about 33,000 alumni to date since we launched the program back in 2001, and students have gone to 151 countries. 47% of students were first generation college students 70% self identify as racial or ethnic minority. And we've worked with 13,000 1300 US institutions across the US to send students overseas so we definitely definitely recommend you apply if you're Pell Grant recipient. Great opportunity. Now, um, one of the things to sort of get you excited about study brought itself. I wanted to make sure to kind of turn things over to Markel because he is one of our future Gilmans. He has been caught up in the loop of sort of deferred things due to COVID, but he also has done a lot of our programs in ECA that are geared more for high school students as well. So as a kind of vanguard of somebody who is at the forefront of study broad and literally studying abroad right now in Panama. So I wanted to turn it over to Markel to kind of talk about study broad writ large the experiences he's had, and he can tell you a little bit about his ambitions to at some point use his Gilman scholarship overseas. So Markel, can I turn the mic over to you. Um, so yes, I, as I said earlier, I'm a kitty Largo Youth Exchange alumni, and the program provides about 60 scholarships for students to go abroad, high school students to go abroad, and highly Muslim populated countries. I was awarded to go to Sofia, Bulgaria, and a part of the program you get to stay at a study at a whole school in a with a host family. And I studied at awesome nice I'm so to each of this dead William Gladstone and the center of Sophia for the 2018 academic year. Also live with the host family. Interesting enough, while at my whole school. My first experience and I got there of course I was very nervous on this is my first time in Europe first time in Eastern Europe and the first time into a country that I have never heard of. So, um, being there it was, was particularly maybe feel very uncomfortable and beginning, but as time went along, it was very interesting to meet with different students at my whole school. And it helped me out. It really helped me to really immerse myself in the culture and also live with the host family. And I was able to fully immersion the culture in regards to learn about different culture should traditions. Sorry, and different things for instance, during November and December. In America I'm used to celebrate Thanksgiving my great grandmother, my, my mom and everything and we cook dishes cakes and a whole bunch of things. This is the first time of for me being away from my family. So, I decided to make these dishes that my great grandmother taught me from my host on host class amazing awesome my host family was an amazing experience, because they do not celebrate Thanksgiving as that is American tradition. So that was a part of a good part of culture change in their December Christmas which is also a big holiday for mostly everyone. My host mom took me to a remote village in northern Bulgaria, where I got to view my 98 year old host grandma. And I got to experience at 12 a.m. on Christmas Eve of these men coming in different types of clothing on and singing of hearing him to bring in the Christmas day. So definitely study abroad really opens your eyes to different things on that you may have never known. I also was able to take intense hearing classes twice a week with my Bulgarian teacher, as a part of the program. So I also started the first club at my own, my host high school. I mean Bulgaria they don't really have a high school since really don't volunteer and they really don't have clubs at the high school. Instead they, when you go to when you transfer from middle school to high school. They'll allow you to choose your career path right in a three. So I was at language school. So they didn't really have any clubs, but there was a group of students who love to speak English. So they will always come to me Hey Markel, just to say hi and walk away just to practice their English. Later on they tell me I was just saying hi because I want to know if I could speak good English. So, once I found this out, I met with some of the English teachers shout out to Svetlana Stauncheva. And we started a Bulgarian English speech and debate team, which is a program that's actually through the Fulbright Commission in the area that they fund. I was able to take these students to a competition around the country, and they competed both locally and nationally, many of them made it on. And I've got to be many of their parents, which was also amazing experience because many of their parents have never seen in African American. So I remember one time me having a informational for this field trip, and a parent coming to me I was like, Hey, I just, I just wanted to talk to you, you know, I never really seen African American only a movies and I just want to say that the stereotypes that people may say they're not true, because I met you, which is amazing thing for me because I felt that as if the weight of my race was on my back while in Bulgaria. Also during February Black History Month, I was able to travel travel around Bulgaria and give presentations to different high school students about the African American experience. And also different aspects of Black History Month, and things of that sort and students were able to really look at not only, you know, American history but also look at their country and their experiences with the Roman community which is a group in Bulgaria that is often oppressed and have many different circumstances that could relate to the African American experience. Also while there, I was able to meet with some full bright alumni and some Peace Corps alumni, which are things I hope to apply to, to really get that full fellowship feel. And that was an amazing experience because they gave, they said, Well, it's amazing. I was, I remember studying abroad in Bulgaria for the first time and now I live in Bulgaria. I really opened my eyes that you first take me take that step and study abroad that that may be the place you live for the rest of your life so that was amazing. And I just made a lot of amazing memories that I will cherish on for the rest of my life. Awesome. I guess I'll go over as Amelia mentioned me being in Panama, which is interesting. I know we all know how COVID-19 has forced all of us to change our plans and shift things around, but I was supposed to be in Portugal, as I am a Portuguese major this semester studying Portuguese with the Gilman Scholarship that I was awarded. And unfortunately, my program was canceled, but I was able to shift my plans and kind of create my own culture immersion and study abroad experience here in Panama. So I am currently in Panama, meeting with locals and really practice on my span as you got studied before years in high school, which is also very close to the Portuguese. So I just encourage all of you to take advantage of these scholarships and fellowships that the State Department holds. Thanks so much, Markel. And I think we're all a little jealous you're as close to a beach as you are because it's a little cold in DC. So sort of to follow on, and it's something Markel kind of alluded to there is an entire fellowships bandwagon of basically financial resources that the federal government has that you can apply for that will make your life really fantastic and give you opportunities to present your country or just gain new skills. So a few opportunities to flag that I just absolutely love. One is the born fellowships and scholarships. These provide funding to us undergrads and graduate students to study languages and regions critical to our national security. So what's really great about these programs is, if you want to get into federal service, they actually have a one year requirement that you do federal government service afterwards and they do a whole host of career fairs, etc for borons. So if your dream is to work for the State Department Peace Corps USA ID anything along those lines. This can be a great way to get skills overseas, but also get your foot in the door. So one of the programs that I absolutely love is the Fulbright US student program so basically in non COVID times. We generally send American citizens to 140 countries to do either brand new research projects of their own devising over a nine month period, or to teach English overseas. And this can be at the elementary middle school high school or university level. These programs are absolutely fantastic in light of COVID. I mean we're really looking at country by country cases. But on every single campus you have somebody who is a fellowship program advisor who literally their job is to like help you get fellowships that's why they're paid. And so they'll look at your essays and help you find opportunities so I guarantee you have one on your campus. And so this is a great thing to do right after your senior year of college, but we don't discriminate against people who take a few years off between. So for example, I did my full bright in Turkey, a year after I had graduated. And so it's definitely something nice to be on the horizon. So a great opportunity or sort of aggregate place of opportunities is languages dot state dot gov. This is a one stop resource of all the federal government's funding towards language programs period so it combines not only what the Department of State is doing but also DoD the Department of Education, the NSA, you name it. And it looks at programs across whether you're in high school, a college student, a graduate student or professional, and by length and by country so if you're trying to figure out like hey how can I get funding to go learn some Urdu. It will help aggregate all of those results. And so that can be a great resource for you. The other real springboards I see as ways into the department are looking at some of our state state department student programs. So if you visit careers dot state dot gov. There's an entire section dedicated just to students it's interns hyphen fellows, you'll see it as a giant tab, it says interns and fellows, click on it. There are tons of programs that you can apply to. We do year round internships, not only in Washington DC and at our embassies overseas in COVID times, those are virtual. But we also have a virtual student federal service internship program as well and that works with 50 US federal agencies. So whether we're talking NASA or DoD or state department to do year long projects where you sort of work five to 10 hours a week so if you really think hey I'd like to work for the FBI. You can do a low stakes internship for a few hours a week to sort of get your feet wet with it. We also have some really amazing fellowship programs within the Department of State and sort of pro tip a lot of the students who go on to win these fellowships did Gilman they did CLS. And so these are good sort of springboards into the fellowships world. So the Charles B. Rangel International Affairs Program basically usually funds two years of graduate school and as a pathway to become a Foreign Service Officer as well. The same is true for the Pickering Foreign Affairs Fellowship. The primary difference between these two programs is in one you do internships with Congress on the Hill, as well as the State Department and with Pickering, you basically do an internship in Washington DC and one at our embassies overseas. There's a really neat summer program for the Rangel. That's really great if you're an undergrad that's a eight to 10 week program that's hosted at Howard University you can apply for. I think the deadline is actually it's always in February so if you're just starting off your undergrad career and you're not sure you want to commit to full on Foreign Service. It's a great way to get your feet wet in DC. And for all you IT folks out there. We also do have the Foreign Affairs IT Fellowship, which is for students who are interested in IT fields but it will pay for a master's in IT fields, and you become a Foreign Service specialist, and you have a five year commitment to the State Department. But I feel like I have been on a soapbox for a while so I'm going to turn it back over to Jada and Markel to offer their tips and tricks for applications and then we're going to triage your questions as best we can. And one last clarifying thing because it came in in the chat on Gilman, you must be a Pell Grant recipient if you're applying for the general Gilman if you're applying for Gilman McCain and your parents are active duty. You don't have the Pell Grant requirement so I just wanted to clarify that but with that I will turn it over to Markel and Jada to give you their tips and tricks. Markel, I guess I'll start off with the first tip. So start your applications early, but I'm also the same person who's a person that gets the application in like at the last hour. But no matter what, still get your application in. And because I guess I think the readers of the application they'll look mostly at the content of the application now when you turn it. And another great tip is to talk to your campus fellowships advisor they are being paid to help you apply to these fellowships and hopefully get into these fellowships. So they're a great resource to use, you can't lose anything from talking to them. Great people to have read your essays or ask any essay questions. If you don't know who to ask. So schedule meeting with your recommenders and give them all the materials beforehand. I'm usually for most of these fellowships and scholarships recommenders have a different deadline. But if you send them your resume your state of the purpose and tell them your passion and why you really want to get discussion fellowship, those recommenders will really appreciate that and I feel like they'll write the best recommendations. It's also important to do your research on the program and really understand it a lot of people who apply to fellowships you're most likely applying to many different fellowships at the same time. And it does read if you're sort of using the same statement of purpose for all of them, and it sort of connects back to understanding what you're applying for know what the program wants for you and make sure that reads through your application. And also, when you're applying for anything that is through the government or the State Department. I think that you always have to state in your essay, what you can bring to that fellowship or that scholarship or to the government to the state of the program how with them investing, investing in you, I'll be a benefit to them. And once you do that I think you will have a great chance of getting the scholarship. And it's important to ask people to read your essays. Just because you think something makes sense someone else can read it and completely not understand what you meant to say. So it helps, it doesn't even have to be a professor friends are more honest than your professors might be so have a friend read your essay and let them, and let them tell you if it makes sense. And the last tip and trick we have is to follow up and even sometimes get on the phone, the phone on the people at Gilman people at American Councils. Through all the fellowship and scholarships they're always willing to answer any emails or phone calls. I know for me when I applied for the Kenny Kenny larger youth exchange program. Before I even was awarded the scholarship, I call sky and Adam at American Councils almost 100 times, his accent simple questions are expressing my concerns. And I think they really will appreciate that. Awesome. Well, thank you guys so much for your tips. So with that, I'm going to stop the screen share but folks please feel free to flood us in the chat with any questions. And I will ask our sort of fellow panelists various questions that you guys have sort of asked us. But again, please feel free to check out study abroad.state.gov to find opportunities fellowships funding, you can't get awards you don't apply for so apply. So with that, I sort of will launch into our Q&A. And I think I'll start by asking this question to Jada. But we'll also ask Markel as well. So how do you see study abroad kind of as a career launcher and getting you where you want to go. Yeah, I mean, I think sort of, there's this thing like the road of fellowships like once you get one it's like sort of they continue on after like either apply for more and hopefully get more. And that definitely is sort of the path that I've seen. And so if I hadn't studied abroad in CLS I think one I, I'm not sure if I would have been as competitive maybe for a State Department internship and able to intern with the Bureau that houses CLS. I've gotten so much from my internship enough to know that I definitely see myself in a career within the State Department. And I don't think if I hadn't studied abroad in Korea and sort of gotten those experiences to know. Oh, I love traveling I love international travel and I also like what I'm able to bring to people in those countries and also what I'm gaining from them. And now that I'm a junior, it's fast approaching where it's time to make some tough decisions. And I think without study abroad it would make it even a harder decision on what I want it to do. I want to be a Foreign Service Officer. Eventually want to be a diplomat of Portuguese. And I think it's very important if you want to go in Foreign Service or any government position is really important to get your feet wet is really see if you can do the job or if you even enjoy going. And when I went to Eastern New Year when I went to Bulgaria, both the positive and negative feelings I had, while there, it really further affirmed that I really want to, you know, be a Foreign Service Officer. So, I think once you, once you study abroad and you basically have to, you know, be going into a government field but anything you're going into I think it's important to get your feet wet before you actually, you know, know if you want to do that. No, awesome, like those are great answers and then I'm going to actually ask you guys a harder question. Um, so I want to know, did you have any doubts about going abroad where you freaked out like was it petrifying to get on a plane like what was that entire experience like and would you do it again. I can start off. So I was definitely terrified to be studying abroad, one because I'd studied abroad before in Spain but I had been taking Spanish at that point for seven years. And so I knew Spanish proficiently and going to Korea I knew almost nothing I knew nothing about my host family I just knew it was a woman we had not had any contact. And I was I was nervous on the plane getting off the plane. There was not a minute until like I met my host family that I wasn't just shivering I think with nerves. But you get there and the world isn't ending and everything is fine they understand that you don't know the language. And it was a lot of pointing it was a lot of moments of frustration to the point of tears where I just couldn't get my point across or what I needed from somebody. My host mom felt the same she's like what is she talking about. But I mean, at the very end of it those experiences one make you a more well rounded person, you need those sort of scary experiences that take you out of your comfort zone. And obviously because like I've returned to sort of the world of international education I want to do it again if COVID wasn't happening I wouldn't be doing it again. And so I think it was, it was all worth it in the end, obviously. So for me, I was terrified of flying. I was terrified when I got it. I was terrified when I had to go to pre departure orientation I was terrified when I landed I was terrified through the whole experience but it wasn't that terrified as if I was scared and uncomfortable. I was just terrified of what the neck like what, what things would I learn next so what would my next experience with the very local. So it, I think, um, it's good to have doubts because I guess that proves that you're human. I think we all had doubts and all aspects of our lives but most importantly, all the times I look myself in the mirror and I say okay, I think I can do this. That's the whole company to have myself I was in Bulgaria, and when I was applying for the program, and ultimately it turned out okay as I am sitting here today, telling you to go. And I mean, I guess sort of piggybacking off of that like what actually made you want to intern with the Department of State what made you remotely interested in careers and public service they're not on everybody's radar. So give us a look into that. So I think when I came back from CLS the one thing that I was thinking about that was constantly on my mind was why didn't I know about CLS earlier like there's, there's other sort of fellowship programs like Miss Lee that start in high school and I just never heard of them when everybody else in my cohort had been preparing for CLS for a long time or at least a couple of years. If they hadn't gotten in the in the first time and I was just very lucky that I got in my first go round. And I was like well I want to make these study abroad programs accessible I want to help bring more people of color to these programs, because I think we need these opportunities and I think we bring so much to these programs. And so, when I was looking for internships for sort of my junior year, I was like I would love to sort of work with CLS again and really any study abroad program that will take me. And so I applied for the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. And here I am and I'm loving what I'm doing I'm halfway through my internship now it's gone by very quickly. Without CLS I don't think I would have ever figured out like, oh I think I want to go into sort of international education and study abroad programs and bringing them to minority communities. But I'm very happy that I applied, even though I was very nervous about getting in, but it's all worked out once again. Yeah, so basically what made you want to be an intern at the State Department and how did that fit in with not only your study abroad plans but your public service plans and tell us more. Yeah, so I actually found out about the Virtual Student Federal Service Program while I was in Bulgaria. It's so funny because I actually have a Google Doc on it when I'm going to apply for certain things how I want to get them. And I think I decided that I wanted to get both aspects of being a Foreign Service Officer. But actually on the ground in the country doing the work but you also have the people back in the United States of America actually don't work here to help those people on the ground. So I just want to get both aspects of the career really want to have in the future. And yeah. Yeah, awesome. That's really, really useful. Um, so I mean, I guess when you guys have been growing after these opportunities whether it's applying for, you know, yes abroad or Gilman or CLS or the internships, like, how are you guys managing the recommendation front because I know seeing like oh three recommenders or two recommenders is a scary thing so how did you guys navigate that process. Um, so for me, I think I'm a very introverted person so one asking for recommendations was very hard for me because I assume people just know nothing about me. So I'm very afraid to ask them for any recommendations or for anyone to say anything nice about me. But my professors, I think one thing is to know that professors are very much willing to write recommendations they're doing it all day long. And it was sort of, I had to take that initiative for asking for recommendations from people for CLS like my Korean professor who I was like we've only had class together for a semester. But I really wanted him to write a recommendation and so if you do find a recommender who you might, you might think like oh they don't know me very well, take that initiative to say can I come into your office to just tell you about who I am the program that I want to apply for, and they're very willing like I never had a professor tell me no. They're just like oh can I hear more about why you want to apply. And so it's just about getting over that fear and reaching out to people who might have surprising things to say about you. So for me, I think it's very important to build that connections with all your professors, even your teachers from high school. I actually have an 11th grade teacher. I talk to almost every day and she will write recommendations for me anytime I ask. So when you make those connections you make those relationships, and you let your professors know your teachers know that you, you're really passionate about going abroad and you're really passionate about working in government or being a Foreign Service Officer. They'll keep that in the back of their mind and you should show up to class and be participating as well. And when you need a recommendation. I feel like as long as you come to them in a timely manner because they are, you know, stressed out with being a professor or teacher. They will do it for you hands down that's have been my experience for all on my recommended. No, that's awesome and super useful. And I mean I guess kind of related to that. I mean you guys are alums of various ECA programs. Who have you stayed in touch with anybody on your programs from, you know, when you study abroad or people in host country, or was this sort of a one and done like what's that look like at this point. I have stayed in touch with like my very close friends who I made in Korea like I'm still in touch with my language partner and the friends that I met through him. I'm close with my cohort like I'm FaceTiming one of my friends from CLS Sunday, and we've had various reunions since the program has ended. And just, I think two weeks ago one of my Korean friends is in a film class and they had to review get out. And he's like, I don't understand this can you explain it to me and so we FaceTimed and I explained to him, get out and sort of the African American experience as it relates to get out. And at the end he didn't get a great grade, but he enjoyed the conversation I think there was a translation problem, but we still stay very much in touch. I think that for me that's that's actually my favorite part about study abroad. Many of my friends after high school I was, I was really worried about, wow, all of my friends are going to college and I'm going to be going to Bulgaria on the behind friends blah blah blah. But after my experience, I realized that I'm the only one in my group that can say I have international friends, I have friends in Bulgaria, I have friends in the Philippines. I was able to keep, keep in touch with the Fulbright Commission in Bulgaria, who hopes for me to apply to be a Fulbrighter in Bulgaria. I'm still able to keep in touch with Peace Corps alumni and also my cohort. I actually took a trip around on United States and North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming for a little camping trip so that's one great thing about study abroad is the relationship that you will gain. So that's awesome phenomenal answers. And one thing sort of for the audience's awareness, especially with CLS, Gilman and Fulbright, something kind of cool that has come into existence is something where you actually get preferential from having four federal jobs if you're Gilman or CLS alum, it's called non competitive eligibility so for those of you who've heard of Peace Corps, you know how like Peace Corps reps come back and they have a pathway into the federal government. The same applies for Gilman CLS and Fulbright alumni. You basically have one year of non competitive eligibility. So you can extend that up to three years if you're still a student. If you're doing something relevant that the hiring authority thinks is relevant, or if you're serving in the military. And so for any of you guys who sort of apply for these programs and you're thinking like hey, I might want to work for the Department of Agriculture, like this is a helpful way to sort of get past all of the tape of USA jobs. I do a lot of special sessions specifically for ECA alumni. So we'll do mentor talks and bring in senior people who maybe have careers that you're interested in and Gilman and CLS do all sorts of specialty projects for their alumni and follow on activities. So like once you do one of these programs, you're kind of stuck with the Department of State and you're stuck with the alumni like they don't leave you stay in touch like 10 years later you're still texting and you're like, oh, that was really cool I lived in Turkey for a year. So I will stop on that tangent and get back to the question. But I guess for, and this I think is good for both Jada and Markel studying languages can be incredibly challenging, especially brand new ones so can you talk a little bit about the experience of studying languages overseas. What made you interested and why you're still studying languages and how that fits in with what you want to do. Yeah, I mean for me. I'd always wanted to learn Korean and there just was not the opportunity until I got to college and I knew that I wanted to become at least proficient in Korean which is why I found which is how I found CLS. And when you're in the country and having to learn the language I think there is a slightly higher level of difficulty because you're living and talking with people who you desperately want to communicate with better. And you're like how do I become better at Korean like so I can talk with my friends so I can just like communicate like how I do in the US. And so I do think there was a level of difficulty there. But I think, especially if I can only speak for CLS obviously the classroom experience is just amazing, like, it feels like you're in class all day but you're learning so much. You go outside and like you're talking to one of your Korean friends and they're like, Wow, that's a really cool grammar thing you just use like when did you learn that. And so it's definitely difficult and I think for me it was difficult coming back because I wasn't experiencing the same level of difficulty with my Korean learning. But the great thing about you know your network continuing is that you're still in contact with all those people you can speak in Korean with. Like the language learning never stopped and that was something that I still cherish to this day to be able to continue speaking in Korean when I need to. I think learning the language of any country you decide to go to is very important and it is really, it's really a respecting for the actual locals that are there. And I think it's really well being in Bulgaria for that year. Anytime where I said a little Bulgarian word or I said Bulgarian word but it was wrong or I said a sentence and it sound backwards they would laugh and say we thank you for actually trying to learn. Because sometimes you know, countries may look at as Americans as we go to their country and we just demand that they know English. We meet on Americans and we're actually trying to learn the language and we're actually trying to make relations with them. It really helps them on really, I think it really helps them to build a relationship with us. And also with me, I'm currently studying Portuguese is because I decided that I do want to go to African country with that speech Portuguese. So after Bulgaria, after looking at the language school that I was in while there. I decided okay so learning Bulgarian now. I don't think I want to continue here but I appreciate the experience but I have to figure out a language I really want to learn and how I can use that from different countries and that's when I decided Portuguese. That's awesome. So we've got a fun audience question that I really like. That's a little bit further out of what we've been talking about so far. But do Bulgarians Panamanians Koreans learn about black leaders like Frederick Douglas Washington George Washington Carver Booker T Washington divorce. What was that like and did this come up in conversation and yeah. I just from my experience, I don't think the Koreans had any sort of idea about black history at all like I think their only frame of reference was sort of, they've heard about slavery, and maybe like they studied about the Civil War and that was about it. So that's another frame of reference for like black people and specifically black Americans like they talked a lot about Michael Jordan, Nicki Minaj, it seemed like the Anaconda video was just suddenly becoming popular in Korea, so it was a weird sort of rise and Nicki Minaj, and I think oh and Barack Obama of course so like those were their frame of reference for sort of like black Americans that they knew and sort of black leaders. It was difficult because that's a couple of different stereotypes to deal with like they had a certain image of like black women, and a certain image of like black men, like being either I guess the president or like they play sports. And so that was difficult because it was sort of like when we were having conversations about black history we just didn't have the same cultural basis. And I was like, Oh, you should look up this and like I would write and write it in English and they would look it up later But I think that was one thing that was great about getting to be there it sort of got the more interested in black history because I was telling you them about things they had never heard of before. That's actually a very interesting question. Currently in Panama now. No, I haven't had a conversation, which is crazy because black history, but I haven't had a conversation with anyone who I figured they would know Barack Obama. I think everybody knows Barack Obama but while in Bulgaria. They only knew Martin Luther King Jr. Barack Obama and the same thing as data said, they can acknowledge Cardi B they don't really know any of the figures that were taught in America. And that's one of the reasons why I did the black history my presentation and while I was in the area went around the country is because they didn't even really know about the civil rights movement. So it was an interesting thing to do and learn. Yeah, that's super helpful. Thank you guys for taking a stab at that. So we've got about five minutes left. And so we're coming to the end of our time. But I guess for each of you, what would sort of be your biggest piece of advice and applying to any of these opportunities or preparing to participate in these opportunities that you kind of wish you'd known going in. I think something I wish I'd known so maybe my experience could have even could have been even more amazing was don't be afraid to just jump in to like difficult conversations or sort of difficult positions to be put in like I was when I was there my first week I was sort of like I don't know the language I'm very scared that people are going to call me dumb for not knowing what I'm saying, but people, especially when you're going to these sort of critical language countries, they really appreciate that you're even taking the time to learn their language. So my advice is don't be afraid to sort of jump in and interact with the people that you're staying with living with an interacting with because they appreciate it and you gain so much from those conversations. I think for me, and I don't even know this is correct to say but don't have any expectations. I think that's one thing that I wish I could have changed from your area is because I went in said okay I'm going to go to help him to have all this and all that is, and then when the things weren't happening, I thought my experience was like, not in boy. Well, if you just don't expect anything and just walking unknown, allow the happiness allow the fear to guide you just through the experience. I think that will be very helpful because you expect things and it don't happen. Then you want to come home early and then you're not comfortable. And I think it's better just not to expect anything and just go in for the ride. Now that's really fantastic and so sort of I just want to recap with a couple of quick things for the audience before we send you to the power panel which you absolutely don't want to be late for or miss. So if you're at all thinking about any of these programs that we've talked about, if you want to find out more information about them, go to study abroad.state.gov. If you forget that you can just Google study abroad State Department will be the number one thing that pops up, but there is funding for you to go overseas, and we do the exact same thing for the international community coming into the State Department. So Google to your friend, and please reach out with any questions that you guys have real people answer them. And we want to make these opportunities available to you, but apply, apply, apply. And always check out our website careers.state.gov if you remotely want to do an internship or at least explore the possibility of doing one, because we need talented awesome people like you to like show up, get on the plane and do these things. And so, I'm so glad you guys all are here for this conference it's one of my favorite things I love doing it in person I wish we were all in HST and we could sort of be chatting over coffee. Thank you thank you. And again, after our session, go to the main hall, and the power panel is going to immediately begin. But with that, I'm going to give Markel and Jada a chance to give their last like 30 seconds on something before we unfortunately will be to the end of our time. Um, you have everything to gain from study abroad and nothing to lose I highly recommend it I don't think anyone's ever regretted their study abroad experience or language learning experience. Yeah, the world is your home take advantage of these opportunities that the State Department provides, and I assure you will not be disappointed. Perfect and reminder for anybody who's applying for Gilman we just extended that deadline so applications are now due March 9. So if you're a Pell Grant recipient and want to remotely study abroad in the next year and a half, you can apply, you don't have to exactly know what you're doing in the same way you previously would have. And if you want to do CLS that application will open at the very end of the fall in September and be due in November so you can start dreaming up whether you want to do Portuguese or Korean or Urdu, because we guarantee there is a language for you. And so I think with that the stream is about to stop. But thank you all so much for coming and enjoy the HBCU foreign policy conference and good luck with your studies and everything that you guys are doing. Thanks so much.