The Adventures Continue

Jiyeong "Faith" Park and Ian Hower are two of many members of the class of 2016 launching international careers.

Jiyeong "Faith" Park and Ian Hower are two of many members of the class of 2016 launching international careers.

Global experiences, here and abroad, lead to global careers

There are many paths open to members of the class of 2016, and for some, they lead to distant shores. Whether born in the U.S. or abroad, these new graduates are launching professional lives far from the countries they call home. 

Some class of 2016 members will set sail for Japan, where they’ll work in big data, computer science, sales, marketing and education, and some will teach English in Italy. One biology major will teach high-school science in the Bahamas, while another conducts research at a Saudi Arabian university. A computer-science grad will work on systems in an archaeology center in Greece. The class also boasts two Peace Corps volunteers (Botswana and Nicaragua) and  a Princeton in Africa fellow, who will work for a year in South Africa before pursuing a master’s degree in public health.

Our newest alumni also will attend graduate schools in Singapore, Scotland, England, Taiwan and Australia. The University of Oxford, one of two Dickinson partner universities in England, will welcome three 2016 class members next fall; they will study comparative social policy, law and women's studies. The University of Glasgow and London School of Economics (LSE) tie for second place, with two new Dickinson grads each. Those at LSE will study media/communications, public policy and philosophy, while both students traveling to Glasgow will pursue veterinary careers.

Many, including all three Oxfordians, point to their study-abroad experiences as inspiration for their budding international careers. Jiyeong "Faith" Park's undergraduate research on public health in Cameroon led to her the Princeton in Africa fellowship and her continued studies in that field. Jessica Sykes folded an internship and conference into her semesters abroad in Toulouse and Cameroon; this summer, she's working with the African Development Foundation as she prepares to enter graduate school in London. Claire Henriques' time as a study-abroad student and research assistant in Cameroon influenced her decision to enter the Peace Corps. Di Young, a Chinese native, made contacts while studying in Japan that led to a job as a sales and marketing representative in Tokyo.

Still, some, like California native Ian Hower, found inspiration closer to home. A tour guide and law & policy major at Dickinson, Hower enjoyed studying in Bologna and interning at the California State House and on Capitol Hill. But it was on campus, as Student Senate president, that he learned to lead. Next fall, he will fly to London to begin LSE's graduate program in philosophy and public policy.

“Living in a world capital such as London was something I never thought possible before entering Dickinson,” he says.

For more on what members of the class of 2016 are doing after graduation, visit Life Beyond the Limestone.

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Published June 1, 2016