Alyson Shade: “I was enrolled in the Peace and Conflict Resolution Seminar, which proved to be a life-changing experience for me. Along with learning theories of global and ethnic conflict, methods of nonviolence, reconciliation, and intervention, political discourse, and diplomacy, the seminar also introduced the class to several political elites and "movers and shakers" of the city and of the world. The class visited several NGOs, IGOs, and embassies around the city, including Nonviolence International, the State Department, Search for Common Ground, the Henry L. Stimson Center, and the Woodrow Wilson Center, where we had the opportunity to personally discuss issues relevant to our seminar. In order to experience a culmination of the semester's work, the class traveled to Bosnia, Croatia, and Serbia during the month of November and was submerged into a post-war culture. We met with several journalists from each of the countries who were politically active during the war, as well as the President of Croatia and members of Parliament, the Office of High Representatives in Bosnia, and several Ambassadors along the way. The experience abroad opened my eyes to an entirely different world and forever impacted my life with its powerful images of destruction, hostility, hope, dedication, and forgiveness.” (Internship: The Coalition for Higher Education Act Reform)
