Meet Meredith McCain: Student Activist and Recipient of the Longview Scholarship

I initially heard about Sciences Po from a French exchange student that I had in high school. It was her dream to go to Sciences Po, and she spoke so highly of it that it made me curious about it. When I started looking at undergraduate universities in the U.S., 

I wanted to find one that had an exchange program with Sciences Po since I knew that I would be majoring in Political Science and French. During my junior year, I then spent a semester on the campus of Sciences Po Menton, where I was able to take classes

In Arabic and French about the Middle East and Mediterranean region. I had a positive experience there, so it was only natural for me to consider PSIA for my graduate studies. I would say my collective experiences of studying comparative international politics during my undergrad at Rice University, my undergrad internship experiences, and my exchange in Menton really all piqued my interest in international relations.

My family doesn’t travel abroad often, but I was fortunate that we were able to take a trip to France when I was eight years old. Seeing the Eiffel Tower, eating pain au chocolat, and all the other French clichés made me determined to learn French and one day become fluent in it. I began my French studies in school when I was 11 and loved almost every moment of it (the grammar can be difficult!) I was also fortunate to have very passionate and engaged French teachers throughout my time in school, which drove me to continue learning the language, even though it could at times be frustrating and difficult to practice in the U.S., where there aren’t many French speakers. And of course, having a French exchange student and then receiving the opportunity to travel to France while in undergrad motivated me even more; the language is so beautiful and fun to speak, France is so diverse with so much to see, and knowing French opens up an entire world of possibilities, such as also travelling and working in West Africa.

My internship with the Office of Afghanistan Affairs ended in September, but I did have a very intense ten-week experience interning with the office. I found this internship by applying through the US State Department student internship program, which annually recruits summer interns. It definitely gave me a lot of perspective on U.S. diplomacy and what was happening on the ground in Afghanistan. Despite the difficulties facing the Afghan people, I was fortunate to be working with a team of extremely talented and motivated individuals who wanted to do everything in their power to help a deteriorating situation and evacuate those at risk. While I played a very small role in the diplomatic side of the evacuation process, I learned a lot along the way about diplomacy in action.

I followed this internship experience with an internship this fall with the French association Réfugiés Bienvenue (FR), based in Paris. It was very rewarding to be able to work directly with refugees in the Paris area after seeing the heartbreaking scenes occurring in Afghanistan over the summer. Many of our beneficiaries at Réfugiés Bienvenue are from Afghanistan, as well as many other countries, and I got to work with the communications and development team to help expand housing opportunities for refugees in the Île-de-France region. 

I volunteered with Sciences Po Refugee Help during the 2020-21 school year on both the research and legal aid teams. I volunteered with Paper Airplanes this whole past year in their Student Advising program, in which I work one-on-one with a Syrian student who wants to pursue her higher education and career in Europe or the U.S. Both volunteer experiences have helped give me more perspective on the many ways I as a student can “give back”, whether it’s through contributing research on refugee and migration issues, providing resources to asylum seekers in Paris, or lending my knowledge of scholarship and university application processes to other students. 

I’m continuing my involvement with the association Réfugiés Bienvenue through volunteering as well. We’re always in need of more volunteers for anyone interested!

As of now, I’m not entirely sure what I will do post-graduation. I’m hoping to find a job that combines my interests in migration, diplomacy, policy, and advocacy, whether that be at the grassroots level or within a larger organization. I would like to continue living and working abroad for now, either in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, or South America… who knows! But hopefully time will tell :)