Community college students explore wide range of international careers at Stanford fair

At the second annual Stanford Fair for Community College Students, students from more than 19 institutions across California met via Zoom for a day of networking and workshops led by Stanford scholars, alumni, and students on various global topics.

Hosted by Stanford Global Studies, the fair aims to provide community college students an opportunity to discover pathways to international work, learn about the importance of developing a global mindset, and build connections with others interested in global studies.

“I learned quite a bit about myself and just how little options I let myself explore. With this fair, I was able to really expand upon my interests and open the door for possible paths in my life,” said Zuleima Arquieta Aleman, an art history major at Cerritos College.

“The main takeaway I got from the fair is to be open-minded and imaginative when designing your career path,” added Emma Neal, a communications student at the College of Marin. “Every decision you make along the way can influence what you actually want to do, therefore there is no ‘set path’ to obtaining a global career.”

Using Your Voice

Audrey Huynh, an immigration and judiciary legislative aide in the United States Senate, opened the symposium with a keynote on “Speaking Truth to Power,” in which she emphasized the importance of using your voice and personal story to advance justice in a globalized world. Huynh, who graduated from Stanford in 2019 with a degree in international relations, shared how her family’s story of immigrating to the U.S. from Vietnam inspired her to pursue a career in legal advocacy.

“Every day in my role as a congressional staffer, I carry my family’s story with me—one that exemplifies the extraordinary ability of the law to provide our most vulnerable with the dignity, care, and opportunity they deserve,” she said. “As a first-generation American, I have taken the unquestioning gratitude and acceptance of my refugee family and transformed these sentiments into a tenacious pursuit for agency and justice. I fight for my family, and for the people who were not afforded the luxury of loving America the way that we do. I fight for an America more worthy of their love.”

Following her talk, Huynh fielded questions from the audience about her experience working on Capitol Hill, encountering discrimination as a woman of color, and pursuing meaningful policy change in a hyper-partisan environment.

“Audrey Huynh’s speech really resonated with me,” said Zea Palayon, a global studies student at Cerritos College. “I am also a woman of color trying to make it in the political arena, and I found it inspiring to see someone who shares a similar background making a difference on a global scale.”

Finding a Global Career Path

Next, students moved into breakout sessions, where they heard from four Stanford faculty members, Saumitra Jha, Rodolfo Dirzo, Rose Gottemoeller, and Allen S. Weiner, who discussed international career paths in different fields.

Gottemoeller, the Steven C. Házy Lecturer at the Stanford Center for International Security and Cooperation, led one session focused on government and international affairs in which she discussed her time working as the Deputy Secretary General of NATO and answered questions about the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine. 

“My favorite part of the fair was when we got to see Rose Gottemoeller talk about her career trajectory,” said Maria Emilia Parodi, who is studying Spanish language and literature and English literature at Los Angeles Pierce College. “She answered every question and gave me awareness and new perspectives.”

Following the faculty-led seminars, instructors from the Stanford Life Design Lab guided students on ways to use design thinking, an innovative problem-solving process, to explore career possibilities. “I enjoyed the session where the participants created a roadmap of different career choices. I found this to be very inspiring as it has been one of the first times where I made a visual representation of my future,” explained Andy Estrada, a student at Los Angeles Pierce College.

The day concluded with a panel featuring global studies and international relations students who transferred from community college to four-year institutions, including Stanford and UC Berkeley. They discussed the opportunities and challenges of attending community college, offered advice for navigating the transfer process, and emphasized the value of international education and global experiences.

“It was exciting to meet other community college students who are also interested in global perspectives, many of whom are first-generation Americans like me, as well as to hear the stories of the former community college students at the Student Perspectives Panel that have transferred to Stanford,” said Neal. “Sometimes it’s hard for me to even imagine having a global career since I have lived in the same town almost my whole life and attend my local community college but brainstorming and connecting with these other students inspired me to realize that we all are capable of making an impact on a larger scale.”

This Stanford Fair for Community College Students is one of several K-14 community outreach activities offered through Stanford’s Education Partnership for Internationalizing Curriculum (EPIC) and is supported by U.S. Department of Education Title VI funding. Collaborators include the Stanford Global Studies Division, the Stanford Program on International and Cross-Cultural Education (SPICE), the Stanford Graduate School of Education's Center to Support Excellence in Teaching (CSET), and the Center for Spatial and Textual Analysis (CESTA).