She is headed for Europe in July, while busily meeting the pledge’s commitments until then with her campus activism.
Jeffrey has just been selected for the prestigious Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange (CBYX) for Young Professionals. The fellowship to Germany serves young people drawn from the U.S. business, engineering, technical, agricultural and other sectors. It prepares students for varied careers in the global arena.
The bilateral program is funded jointly by the U.S. Department of State and the Bundestag, Germany’s legislature. Jeffrey is one of only 75 U.S. young adult recruits who will receive full funding for a one-year cultural exchange to study, work and live in Germany. She will spend six months at a German university and then take up a five-month paid internship related to her interests and field of study. Her studies will include intensive German language training.
“This is a fantastic opportunity for Ninamarie to gain hands-on experience complementing her academic studies,” said Department of Politics Chair Noah Zerbe. “She is a bright student with an absolutely infectious personality. I am sure she will be an outstanding ambassador for HSU.”
Fascinated by foreign languages and inspired by a love of people, Jeffrey hopes to live in at least three countries and Germany is her start. Bent on mastering at least two languages in the bargain, she is studying both German and Spanish at HSU.
“I want to be multilingual, tied to my interests in world cultures and political science,” she says. “Eventually I want to work in international relations of some kind. I have considered environmental law or global trade policy, but altogether I want to focus on human rights.”
Jeffrey’s political science research projects and her on-campus service learning and volunteer activities fuse her career goals with Humboldt State’s internationally-recognized Graduation Pledge, adopted by numerous schools at home and abroad. Her research papers amply reflect her global horizons. She has written about feminist reform in Rwanda, political tragedy and future promise in Ghana and the endangered Palila bird on the island of Hawai’i. Currently she is examining the impact of racial experience on political participation in the U.S.
As for activism, the HSU junior has twice been a summer restoration intern in Hawai’i. She went to work out-planting endangered tree species, administering predator control, restoring old-growth forests and trails and studying the competing political interests in Hawaiian forest conservation management.
On campus, Jeffrey is an Environmental Justice Coordinator with the Women’s Resource Center and liaison with the MultiCultural Center. Her labors have centered on domestic and sexual violence awareness, Brazil’s controversial Belo Monte Hydroelectric Dam complex on the Xingu River, the effects of uranium mining on Native American tribal sovereignty and the impact of global trade practices on global communities.
As a Residence Hall Coordinator in fall semester 2010 to fall semester 2011, Jeffrey administered educational programing on social and environmental justice issues. She also mentored and advised 50-65 undergraduate students in two distinct residence hall communities.
Last March, she participated in a three-day environmental public interest law conference in Eugene, Ore. Last summer she pursued an independent international exchange at La Muela, Vejer, Spain. In December she signed up as a sales associate at the HSU Bookstore.
In addition to Germany and Spain, her past travels have taken her to Italy and she has a double minor in German Studies and Ethnic Studies.
Jeffrey first visited Germany on a family trip when she was 15 and the experience spurred her desire to be “a citizen of the world.” A second trip there sealed her interest in global affairs and other cultures.
Originally she chose her major in political science on a whim, but has since been guided through her studies by her captivation with multiple peoples and their struggles to throw off oppression. Hence her burgeoning interest in working for international human rights.
“I love interacting with people; there is so much to learn from the connections made with others and I feel that growth almost every time I interact with someone. It excites me!” the Hawaiian native says. “It’s that feeling that has inspired my studies at HSU and my urge to make connections with people all over the world.”