Name: Madison Whitney
Major/Minor: Global Studies and Environmental Studies with minors in French and Asian Studies.
Hometown: Lincoln, NE
Year at UNL: Sophomore
Favorite book and why: A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini. This is my favorite book because it opened me up to a perspective and side of the world that I knew little about before and expanded my view on topics such as feminism and war.
Favorite movie and why: Booksmart. This is my favorite movie because it deals with very real issues in a hilarious way and has a great soundtrack.
Why Global Studies? Global Studies has allowed me to challenge myself by learning more about our global community while giving me a group of students and professors that want to interact with the ever-changing and ever-growing world. I first experienced this in my International Relations class with Dr. Hillebrecht last semester, where I found my voice on issues that mattered to me and was given the chance to listen to those that had different perspectives than my own.
Tell us about your study abroad/internship experience. This summer I had the privilege to study abroad with two different programs, each for one month. The first was with a political science course in Krakow, Poland through the UNL Honors Program and the second was a language immersion program in Angers, France. In Krakow, I learned about social activism during the Cold War in a city that had firsthand experience with such things. In Angers, I was able to interact with the French language and culture in a new way by taking classes at the local university and living with a host family.
What are you post-graduation plans? After I graduate, I would like to gain more global experiences through a fellowship focused on environmental activism. Because I will be starting Chinese classes this upcoming year, I would like to use that language and French in my post graduate experiences. Ideally, I would like to work for the United Nations or another NGO to promote environmental sustainability and human rights.