Princess looks back on her Fletcher career
It’s always a bit of a surreal feeling to share the final posts from our newly-graduated student bloggers, given that it always seems so recently that they began their time at Fletcher. Yet here we are again, sending Princess forward with our best wishes on the next exciting steps in her journey, and looking forward to hearing from her down the road as a Fletcher alumna!
It is so difficult for me to wrap my mind around the fact that this is my very last Admissions blog post. I have to say that it has been an absolute honor to chronicle my Fletcher experience™ with you and I hope that my random musings have been somewhat helpful.
My semester came to a close with a wonderful graduation season. From the newly resurrected fletcher tradition of the diplomat’s ball to the actual graduation ceremony, I had many opportunities to celebrate the end of my journey with loved ones. The diplomat’s ball which I fondly called ‘Grad school prom’ was a nice way to spend time with my colleagues in a non-academic setting after all our hard work throughout the year. It was also a great highlight of mine to attend the Tufts Black graduation. My time at Fletcher would not be the same without my Black classmates who understand the singular experiences of being Black in predominantly white academia spaces. Having a special graduation event to commemorate our hard work and tenacity meant so much to me. It was also great to watch alumni who had graduated during the pandemic get their chance to walk across the stage at the class day ceremony. The actual graduation ceremony was delightful. I felt so much love from my family and friends who travelled to Massachusetts to support me at the end of my journey. I am so grateful to have such a strong community in my corner.
As my time at Fletcher has come to a close, I find myself doing a lot of reflecting. I remember where I was when I first came to Fletcher. I had a background in Communications with very little experience in the IR world. I started my journey excited to learn more about a completely new field but I also felt nervous about the challenge. My early days were marked with imposter’s syndrome and the fear that I would not measure up to my more experienced counterparts. I have come out on the other side having learnt so much and feeling more confident in my competencies. Looking back, I wish I had more faith in myself and my ability to grow from the beginning. My advice to anyone pivoting to a new field at Fletcher is to believe in yourself. You will find strength and guidance from the more than capable faculty as well as your gracious colleagues.
Leaving Fletcher is truly bittersweet. I will miss learning about IOs and human security and the importance of gendered intersectional analysis. I will miss spending time with my classmates as well as my wonderful professors. However, I look forward to what the future holds for me. This summer, I will work on completing my capstone project on women led civil resistance movements (shameless plug my short story was featured in the GAIA student spotlight). After this, I will be moving to DC (a Fletcher mafia hub) to work as a Digital and Social Media Strategist at the Center for Global Development. I am so grateful for how Fletcher has prepared me for the next part of my journey and I am excited to live in DC and continue the strong relationships I’ve developed over the past two years. Farewell Fletcher and thank you not just for the learning but the fond memories as well.
Best Wishes,
Princess