Last fall, GMU’s School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution (S-CAR) selected their inaugural cohort of Peacebuilding Fellows! This first group of 13 students spent their spring 2015 term at Mason’s Arlington campus studying peacebuilding in divided societies.
We asked two students from the first cohort, Emily Allen and Corey Jefferson, to reflect on their time as Peacebuilding Fellows. S-CAR is now recruiting for their spring 2016 cohort!
Emily Allen
1) What was your favorite thing about the Peacebuilding Fellows?
My favorite thing about the fellowship was being part of a small, tight-knit cohort. When we started to feel comfortable with each other, the discussions were more intense, honest, and welcoming for everyone to contribute their ideas and feelings to the conversation.
2) What was one take-away of the program or key thing you learned about peacebuilding as a fellow?
In my experience in S-CAR, it is easy to discuss theories and conflict resolution objectively and from a distance. My semester in the fellowship helped me remember the importance of closeness and being "authentically human." We followed current events and focused on their relevance in context to conflict both global, and local, and past and present.
3) How was the Peacebuilding Fellows different than what you expected?
I did not expect it to be so difficult. As a sophomore, I was not yet accustomed to a heavy course load or the amount of readings that we were assigned. With that being said, I was challenged to work harder and the professors were willing to help us. In such a small learning environment, we became closer with the faculty as they joined us for lunch and socialized with us outside of the classroom.
4) What was it like to take courses on the Arlington Campus?
I enjoyed taking courses in Arlington because it helped me get out of Fairfax and network with some of the graduate students and professors of S-CAR. Getting to Arlington could be a pain because of distance and traffic but since school was only two days a week and classes were interesting, it was worth it!
5) What was it like to take classes as a cohort?
This semester provided me with a best friend, lasting friendships, and a completely different outlook of the field of S-CAR. Whenever I felt confused on an assignment, overwhelmed, or excited about an idea or topic, there was a classmate or professor in the program that was willing to help or listen.
6) What advice would you give to someone thinking about applying to the program?
You will be challenged academically, and sometimes, you will be drowning in work. But you probably came to college to learn and to achieve goals and the Peacebuilding Fellowship will provide you with an unforgettable semester with the benefits of internship opportunities, networking, personal growth, and the gift of a cohort. You will exit the semester a different student than you entered and that is an incredible feeling.
Corey Jefferson
1) What was your favorite thing about the Peacebuilding Fellows?
Seeing the same faces and interacting with the same personalities several times a week, each week made me feel like I was a part of a community. That is hard for me to feel in this region (DMV). I was lucky in that seeing the same faces is not always ideal if there are hard feelings shared or sentiments surrounding discomfort; all of which I felt none.
2) What was one take-away of the program or key things you learned about peacebuilding as a fellow?
Admittedly, I entered the program hard-pressed towards identifying and approaching Conflict. To learn more about how peace is a part of conflict and vice versa was (and still is) an important lesson for me.
3) How was the Peacebuilding Fellows different than what you expected?
It was not as dark as I would have liked it to be. However, to really ‘go there’ requires time-- more than we had-- with one another so that we feel bold enough, and respectful enough to address the undulating insecurities that inevitably curdle into a bubble heaving to burst. Addressing that bubble is the direction into which I would promote the program.
4) What was it like to take courses on the Arlington Campus?
Love it. Home away from home and here is why: in the evening extra programs welcome special guest-speakers, events, and discussions that relate to the class material and even elaborate. In Arlington we surround ourselves with our potential future, sharing staircases with law students and theorists of policy and practice. The libraries can be romantic in the way that we are not sure what genius material is being created, or what idea is surfacing among a group study, and that the majority of the students take that education straight to their day job further intensifies the fantasy that the preached can become what is practiced.
5) What advice would you give to someone thinking about applying to the program?
Challenge everything, but with intelligible theory that uses the text to refute itself. Dare to take the lead and question the nature of this school and why we exist in this career. Sink back into your chair and accept silence as your invisible cloak and we all lose something. Leave the classroom better than you found it.
August 27, 2015
