Kathleen Griffin may be a humanitarian in the making. As a freshman, she said her interest in foreign affairs drives her to pursue a degree in international studies.
“I want to learn about foreign relations,” Griffin said. “It’s a growing field. We’re very interconnected with so many other countries. I think it’s good to try to be aware of what’s going on in the world.” Griffin said she had the opportunity to travel abroad through a Latin course in the foreign language department of her high school in Asheville, N.C.
“I took Latin to improve my SAT sore,” Griffin said. “I didn’t have a passion for Latin. I took it for the first time to see if I liked it.”
Enrollment in the course gave Griffin the opportunity to travel to Greece and Italy, an experience that Griffin said added to her desire to pursue international studies.
Griffin said she also wants to travel and study abroad in other countries.
“I really want to study in New Zealand and Australia,” she said. “I’ve heard they are beautiful places.”
Griffin said she also wants to travel to Africa and aid in humanitarian issues of the continent.
According to Griffin, one of her goals is to obtain her master’s degree and then start a career.
“I think I’d work for the government or for a nonprofit,” she said.
Although Griffin is driven to pursue a career in international affairs, she does admit that it is not easy to always stay informed.
“[Sometimes] I have to force myself to turn on the news,” she said.
Having an interest in international studies influences Griffin’s choice of foreign languages to take to satisfy her graduation requirement, she said.
“I’m taking Arabic,” Griffin said. “It’s really interesting.”
Griffin highlighted the need for [students] to be fluent in other languages.
“For a while I thought about working for the government,” she said. “I know [Arabic] is one of those in-demand languages.”
Griffin said that there is also a financial incentive for being bilingual and working for the federal government.
“On the CIA Web site [it said] they’re so in demand for Arabic,” she said. “Recent graduates [who are fluent] can earn six figures.”
