Valentina is a junior at the University of St. Joseph, majoring in political science with a minor in (Levantine) Arabic and psychology and a concentration in pre-law! Valentina is our Education Assistant and has been a huge help with Model United Nations and other education-related projects. We’re so happy to have you on the team, Valentina!

When and why did you first show interest in global affairs?
As a first generation American, I have always been interest in global affairs. My father made sure that his children had the understanding that there is life on Earth that we have never seen. My parents would show us news of what was happening in all over the world. My mother would call her relatives in Germany to inquire how the economy was doing and their opinion on Angela Merkel. Also, as someone who’s family came from a war-torn country seeing other countries involve in rebuilding and strengthening Kosovo shows the importance of global affairs

Do you have a particular area of interest within global affairs?
My interest within global affairs is strengthen relation with countries through learning different languages. I am currently learning Levantine Arabic and I hope to reach fluency by May 2021. My goal with learning Levantine Arabic is to one day to be a translator for the U.S. government to help strengthen our relations with Arabic speaking countries. Also, hopefully, in January 2021, I will be going to Germany to learn German. I am also fluent in Albanian. I am heavily interested in local and global politics, as in the Summer of 2021, I will be in a study abroad internship in Kosovo to learn intercultural skills that well strength my knowledge with handling of different cultures. I believe that communication is how we can better ourselves.

What do you do at CTWAC?
I’m the Education Assistant intern. My main task at the moment is adjusting the Model U.N. to a virtual platform. This is a great job for me as I have worked in a IT department.

What do you do in your free time?
In my free time I read a lot of financial books. I personally think it is a great importance to understand your finance. I also am studying for the LSAT as I hope to score a 192.

Why do you think that global engagement is important?
I do believe that global engagement is important because we need to know our neighbors. All of our countries affect one another. We need different perspective to better each other and to grow as people. The only way to reach those goals to global engagement.

Do you have any tips on how to get involved in global affairs?
Listen and read. Those are my tips to get involve in global affairs. Listen to the news and people to see what is happening all over the world. Read articles to see how protest are changing the world again. You can never know enough, so always try to learn.