Internship – Elliott360

June 8, 2023July 5, 2023

Elliott Student was Awarded the Thomas R. Pickering Foreign Affairs Fellowship

Payton Beaumier, who recently graduated from the Elliott School of International Affairs at the George Washington University, was awarded a 2023 Thomas R. Pickering Foreign Affairs Fellowship following a highly competitive nationwide contest.

The Pickering Fellowship, funded by the U.S. Department of State and administered by Howard University, supports extraordinary individuals who want to pursue careers in the Foreign Service of the U.S. Department of State. Beaumier was chosen out of 600 outstanding candidates.

Beaumier, who grew up in Sioux City, Iowa, said that since high school, she’s dreamed of having a career that would allow her to work towards advancing human rights on a global scale.

One of her teachers in high school once said, “What makes this country great is little people doing little acts of love.” Beaumier said it is a quote that continuously sticks with her and serves as a source of motivation to dedicate her life to public service.

After completing her graduate program, Payton will become a U.S. Foreign Service Officer. She hopes to serve as a political officer working to address matters of human security and strengthen U.S. relations with countries across the globe. Payton credits her time and experience at GW for setting her on this trajectory.

When Beaumier arrived at GW, she was searching for a way to turn her passions into a career, and GW provided an incomparable sense of direction and an environment for curiosity and growth. She stated, “I had amazing academic and experiential learning opportunities at GW. It is a wonderful place to jumpstart your interests.” Specifically, she expressed her gratitude for the unique courses she took, her engaging and influential professors, the Career Services Center, and her time as part of the Elliott School Dean’s Scholars Program.

While at GW, Payton served as the recruitment officer for the Delta Phi Epsilon Professional Foreign Service Sorority and was president of the Women in International Security Branch at GWU.

She participated in the U.S. Foreign Service Internship Program and interned with the Bureau of Counterterrorism at the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Embassy in Lima, Peru, focusing on international narcotics and law enforcement affairs. She has completed internships at the White House with the Gender Policy Council, the U.S. Department of the Treasury with the Office of Terrorist Financing and Financial Crimes, and the Council on Foreign Relations.

Payton became aware of her selection for the Pickering Fellowship during her time as an intern for the White House Gender Policy Council, and she aspires to continue advocating for gender equity and equality in foreign policy during her career.

This fellowship will allow Beaumier to pursue a two-year master’s degree in an area of relevance to the Foreign Service. It will also connect her to extensive professional development opportunities, including internships, mentors, and skills training.

As part of the program, Beaumier will work at the U.S. Department of State for their domestic internship, and the U.S. Department of State will send her overseas to intern in a U.S. Embassy or Consulate to get hands-on experience with U.S. foreign policy and the work of the Foreign Service.

“I am excited for the opportunity to dedicate my future and my career to promoting peace and supporting our citizens abroad while living a life of public service.”

October 1, 2018October 3, 2018

Freeman Fellows In Asia

Last year, 19 Elliott School graduate students set off for various destinations across Asia to intern for NGOs, the U.S. Department of State, for-profit companies, social enterprise startups and humanitarian assistance organizations. All of these students had received Freeman Foundation grants that enabled their travel, supported living expenses and offered a modest stipend to finance their otherwise unpaid internships. The students applied through and received assistance from the Graduate Student Services (GSS) office throughout the application process.

Nickolas Sorensen, M.A. ’19, headed to Phnom Penh, Cambodia, to work for an Australian-owned social enterprise called SHE Investments. There, he created workshops for micro-enterprises, applying for grants in order to help the businesses achieve growth and navigate the country’s bureaucracy. This is Sorensen’s fourth stint in Asia; he has previously worked in Nepal, Taiwan and India. After graduating, Nic plans to return to Asia for full-time work in humanitarian assistance.

For Breanna Bethel, M.A. ’19, Asia was a completely new experience. Having traveled extensively in Europe, she wanted to experience something less familiar and set her sights on China. She was hired by the State Department’s Shanghai office to help manage local contracts and administration for one of the largest diplomatic posts in China. Despite experiencing stronger culture shock than she had anticipated, Bethel still dramatically improved her spoken Chinese, learned the fine art of Chinese dumpling making and gave a presentation to Chinese nationals about the differences between rural and urban America. She also is eager to explore more of Asia and next hopes to travel to Japan.

The generous Freeman Foundation grants were enabled by Mansfield Freeman, a member of the original management group that started an insurance business in China at the turn of the 20th century. The fledgling business grew into the behemoth American International Group (AIG). Freeman also was a prominent scholar of Chinese philosophy and the founder of the Freeman Foundation, created to promote mutual cross-cultural understanding between Asia and the United States.

September 5, 2018September 6, 2018

How I Spent My Summer

An Interview with Margaret Meiman, ESIA BA ’20

We caught up with Elliott School junior Maggie Meiman at the start of the semester to chat about her summer internship at the Atlantic Council, a major think tank focused on strengthening the transatlantic alliance. A New Jersey native, Maggie honed her critical-thinking skills debating global issues as a member of her high-school debate team. At the Elliott School, she is a double major in international affairs and economics. When not in class or writing papers, she is often engaged in service work with members of her professional foreign-service sorority, Delta Phi Epsilon. A stipend from GW’s Knowledge in Action Career Internship Fund made it possible for Maggie to accept this prestigious internship.

Tell us a bit about your work as a summer intern at the Atlantic Council.

I worked in the Atlantic Council’s Eurasia Center, which focuses on democratization, economic development, and disinformation within the post-Soviet space.

What issues did you work on?

My research focused heavily on Kremlin-led disinformation and misinformation in various countries, as well as the legal remedies countries use to combat them. For example, I explored how Estonia’s situation differs from scenarios in Germany and Moldova.

Why was the Atlantic Council internship a good fit for you?

The internship combined my regional interest in Europe and Eurasia with my focus on economics.

A highlight from your experience?

An off-the-record roundtable we held with the former Russian Prime Minister, Mikhail Kasyanov. This event was a chance for top Russia experts in D.C. to gather for a frank conversation about the current state of affairs in Russia, with an emphasis on predictions for the future.

A key takeaway?

I expanded my horizons, literally! I learned so much about Europe and Eurasia – especially about Russia, Moldova, and Georgia – that I just declared an additional concentration in this region. And I plan to use my enhanced regional knowledge and research skills when it comes time to write a thesis next year.

A point of pride from your internship?

My piece on the long term effects of the 2008 Russian invasion of Georgia was published on the Atlantic Council’s blog, the New Atlanticist.