International Relations alum on studying abroad in Serbia, learning Russian and prestigious internships
When he first stepped into the classroom at SUNY New Paltz, Jonathan Pickarski ’24 (International Relations), didn’t realize just how quickly he would be transported into the world around him.
“I came away learning so much about other countries,” he said. “I think it is easy to get passionate about a subject when you learn even a little tiny bit of it.”
The worldly education he received through New Paltz, particularly with respect to Eastern European studies, brought him to study international relations, and eventually landed him prestigious internships at the Library of Congress and at the U.S. Department of State.
The latter internship allowed him to directly connect with issues in Eastern Europe.
“Working at the State Department was only three hours of my time a week, but it gave me a wealth of experience,” he said. “I would just log on to my computer, research and write on Eastern European issues to help diplomats address these issues in the region.”
Prior to this internship, he received funding from the State Department’s Critical Language Scholarship (CLS) Program’s Spark virtual initiative to take an online course studying Russian. The program provides fully funded immersive summer programs for U.S. undergraduate and graduate students to learn languages of strategic importance to the United States’ national security, economic prosperity, and engagement with the world.
While he already had a fascination with Eastern European culture through literature, the program helped him understand Russian through reading first-person perspectives and learning elements critical to learning a new language, like etymology and conversational basics, in a short amount of time.
“For me, it was more beneficial to learn Russian this way than to just read an English translation,” he said. “The main benefit was understanding how a Russian person thinks and sees the world, instead of how an English person interprets the Russian language.”
Learning Russian cemented Pickarski’s passion for Eastern Europe that was first fostered in a course from SUNY Distinguished Professor Nancy Kassop, which inspired him to study abroad in Belgrade, Serbia via a program from Clemson University in spring 2023.
Through learning a new language and studying abroad, Pickarski understood how critical both experiences are in an international relations education.
“You grasp the nuances of a different culture through study of its language and social norms, and that’s something you can’t discover without total immersion,” he said.
Now that he graduated this past winter, Pickarski hopes to further his background in international relations by applying for master’s programs abroad. He is also looking into joining the Peace Corps.
“The benefit of an International Relations degree is that you can go anywhere you want to,” he said, “and that’s just what I’m hoping to do.”