Senior Saeyeon Kwon Applies Critical Thinking Skills to UN Internship

picSaeyeon Kwon is a senior Global Affairs major with a minor in Conflict Analysis and Resolution. She is currently interning at the United Nations Project Office on Governance (UNPOG), a subsidiary office of the Division for Public Institutions and Digital Government (DPIDG) under the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA).

As a public administration intern, Saeyeon conducts extensive research to enhance South Korea’s governance capacity as well as that of countries in the Asia Pacific. She supports projects run by current staff, proofreads reports, and translates material. “I am really honored to be able to do research and suggest ideas for UN projects,” she said. “I think it is a rare opportunity to actually engage in UN work and be part of this team as an undergrad.”

Saeyeon attributes her success to the critical thinking skills she developed at Mason. “As a Global Affairs (GLOA) major, I have been very interested in international issues over the last few years,” she said. “I learned about the most pressing issues and how to tackle them from political, socio-economic, and cultural perspectives. For GLOA students, it doesn’t end with just acknowledging the issues—we have to come up with specific ideas to resolve these conflicts.”

Another avenue for sharpening her critical thinking skills was through Asian Boss NEXT (ABN), a collaborative project between Mason Korea and Asian Boss, a global media company. As a former executive team member of ABN, Saeyeon analyzed social issues to identify their root cause and created videos to publicize her findings both locally and abroad. “This experience was crucial in preparing me for this internship,” she said. “As an intern at UNPOG, I have to give my opinions on current international issues and be able to propose my own thoughts on those issues.”  

Saeyeon states that her current internship is essentially an extension of her academic studies. To fellow students interested in interning at an international organization (IO), she emphasizes that all the skills gained from the classroom, such as “finding the right source for your final essay or giving a presentation on your topic of interest” will come in very handy. “Especially for GLOA and Conflict Analysis and Resolution (CONF) students, all those international issues we learned about—social inequality, human rights, refugees, economic imbalance, etc.—are what you will deal with on a daily basis,” she said. “I highly recommend being alert in class and trying to think about concrete resolutions for those issues.”

Writing skills are also imperative. “Put a lot of effort into writing assignments and polish your paper to deliver your opinion more effectively,” advised Saeyeon, who frequently writes reports at her internship. Lastly, she recommends regularly reading reports by IOs such as the UN, OECD, World Bank, etc., to gain insights on current international issues and trends.