My personal reflection on 20 years since 9/11

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President George W. Bush addresses guests on the South Lawn of the White House, Friday, Sept. 9, 2005, during the 9/11 Heroes Medal of Valor Award Ceremony, and to honor the courage and commitment of emergency services personnel who died on Sept. 11, 2001. White House photo by Paul Morse

September 11, 2001 was a dark day for the world and one that reshaped the way we live. For me, the memories are vivid, and they are also part of a larger story. It was a beautiful morning in Washington, D.C., when I went to work as a Special Assistant to President George W. Bush. We had just welcomed Mexican President Vicente Fox on the south lawn of the White House several days earlier. The day before, I had taken a friend visiting from Texas to the White House Mess for lunch. On the morning of 9/11, I was...

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PAYLP Alum Reflects on Youth Leadership

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This year, International Youth Day will recognize the meaningful participation of youth innovation for human and planetary health. To celebrate International Youth Day, we are highlighting one of our many inspiring alumni: Celestina Richard Livigha of the Pan Africa Youth Leadership Program (PAYLP). Livigha spoke with Meridian’s Center for Global Leadership to reflect on her youth exchange experience and its impact of her leadership journey. Livigha is from Tanzania and a proud PAYLP alumna from the 2018 April cohort. She recently participated in the Fulbright Teaching Excellence and Achievement Program at the University of Massachusetts in Spring 2021. Livigha...

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Erkinbek Kamalov on World Press Freedom

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Erkinbek Kamalov at his CAJIR placement

For World Press Freedom Day we are excited to share a contribution from Erkinbek Kamalov, a fall 2019 alumnus of Meridian’s Central Asia Journalist-in-Residence Program (CAJIR), part of the wider Central Asia Media Exchange Program (CAMEX). Erkinbek is a dedicated media practitioner from Kyrgyzstan. He is a currently a reporter and project coordinator for Content-Media versia.kg located in Jalal-Abad, Kyrgyz Republic. His current project is short term media research for the New Media Advocacy Project (NMAP) New York based entity in which he is a Lead Researcher for the Eurasia region. His most recent completed project, ‘SynergyKG-21’, is related to...

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HERspectives: Kazi Nazifa Tabassum Ilmika

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Photo provided by Kazi Nazifa Tabassum Ilmika.

Kazi Nazifa Tabassum Ilmika is a 2019 SUSI alumna and a marketing professional who advocates for servant leadership, especially in young women entering the military. This blog post is part of a series highlighting and celebrating women leaders in Meridian’s network during Women’s History Month. My early childhood was always filled with many extra-curricular activities and sports, thanks to my late military father. I was busy playing European football, volleyball, basketball and doing debates and public speaking besides studying in school. All these experiences made an impact in my life later, when I decided to join a para-military school...

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Alumni Impact: Fernanda Teresinha da Silva

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Fernanda Teresinha da Silva, 2019 SUSI alumn and Mechanical Engineering student from Brazil.

This blog post was originally published on FIUTS, through their Alumni Impact social media campaign to recognize the work being done by exchange alumni all around the world. The author is Fernanda Teresinha da Silva who was a 2019 SUSI alumni from Brazil.  I’m Fernanda Teresinha da Silva from Brazil and I participated in the SUSI on Youth, Education and Closing Skills Gap 2019. Through the program, I feel like I advanced my understanding of humanity, my knowledge of my own potential and my outlook on my mission as an engineer and as part of the technological revolution that...

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