Ashli Tagoai
How Does Your Internship Relate To Your Major?
By Ashli Tagoai
Fall 2014
I have spent my semester interning at the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF); a Congressionally appointed, nonpartisan, government agency committed to monitoring religious violence across the world. As an International Relations major, it has been a great experience to see how a U.S. government agency works with international religious leaders, prime ministers, and ambassadors to make sure that basic human rights and religious freedom are a reality for all people. Countless hours of research go into the Commission’s annual report, and I’m very lucky to be a part of the work that the staff and Commissioners do to make religious freedom a priority in America. After all, the global effort to uphold human rights is one of the reasons why I love being an International Relations major.
When I started at BU, I had my heart set on going to law school right after undergrad. In the last year or so, that idea has changed mostly because I want to acquire work experience within my major. This semester at USCIRF has given me the opportunity to see what policy analysis and advising in the fields of human rights and religious freedom would be like. My internship at USCIRF has been a great opportunity for me to apply my knowledge of history, foreign policy, global development, geography, anthropology, and religion in a ‘real-world’ work environment. Almost every week since I started interning, I have attended events that really show the work being done in the field of international relations. I’ve gained insight on a wide range of topics; from education reform in Pakistan to strategies for combatting ISIS. I have also had the opportunity to sit in on meetings where the USCIRF policy analysts meet with religious leaders in order gather more evidence to inform their policy recommendations in the Commission’s annual report. Just this week, I had the privilege of meeting an African delegation that was visiting USCIRF to offer perspective on the conflict between Seleka and Anti-Balaka rebels in the Central African Republic. When I went downstairs to greet the visiting religious leaders, I realized they solely spoke French, and it seemed as if my academic background was finally an asset in my internship. In the past few months, I have had the opportunity to sit in on many delegation meetings, but this one was by far my favorite because it validated the five years I spent studying and perfecting the French language. That moment, in itself, has helped me realize that I should be really proud of all the work I’ve put in to earn my degree in International Relations at BU.
Ashli Tagoai is a senior IR major interning at the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF).
