Students replenish old timer's supply of optimism
Amidst these dark times, a ray of optimism shown on me this week, when I had the privilege of meeting with two extraordinary students. I was wowed by these young ladies and their energy, intelligence, and drive to make the world a better place.

The first student whom I’ll call Irina Zoomed in from Florida to discuss her plans for the future. A friend-of-a-friend connected us. Irina is 17, yet the discussion we had was much more reminiscent of a similar discussion I’ve had with bright post-grad students in their mid 20’s. Irina is torn between pursuing a career in international law or one in international diplomacy and development. The scope and sophistication of her questions was impressive. 

AI-generated image. Interesting--these seem to
be getting better and better.

As we spoke, I was honest with her about the obstacles she’ll face in today’s world of diplomacy and international development. At the State Dept. in 2025, over 1,350 employees were laid off, with roughly 1,000 civil service and 250 Foreign Service members receiving reduction in force notices (GovernmentExecutive.com). Understandably, morale is at an all-time low, with 98% of foreign service survey respondents saying morale had declined since January 2025. (CNN)

Things weren’t much better in 2025 for international organizations. For example, job posting were down 25% last year at the budget-strapped UN (Devex.org).

Despite all of this, I suggested to Irina that the situation has got to improve (it can’t get much worse!) for foreign service and international development specialists. Jobs in this field are so incredibly interesting, challenging, and rewarding that I can still recommend this kind of work even in the current climate. Irina enthusiastically agreed, and will be seeking an international relations undergraduate degree at an east coast university TBD.

The second young woman whom I’ll call Myra and her university professor Zoomed me from India. Myra is spending a post-undergraduate year as a researcher before she enters a graduate program. Myra is interested in writing a dissertation about peace journalism, and her professor wants to include more peace journalism instruction at her university in western India. Joining Myra and I on the call was the outstanding Indian journalist Priya Sen, with whom I’ve had the privilege of collaborating with on several projects.

Like Irina, Myra’s questions were sophisticated and challenging. Priya discussed the difficulty of practicing peace journalism in India, though her work and those of several other journalists she cited demonstrates that peace reporting is possible in India. (For example, see Priya’s ‘voice of the marginalized’ story on survivors of the recent Delhi rots-- https://religionnews.com/2025/11/25/survivors-of-hindu-muslim-riots-find-healing-in-womens-empowerment/ ) Despite these challenges, I told Myra that peace journalism is an aspiration, a goal worthy of stiving towards whether we reach the end point of a PJ-dominated media landscape or not. She agreed.

My visits with Myra and Irina lifted my spirits and reminded me to be grateful for the opportunities I’ve had to serve as a peace journalist, teacher, international aid provider, and now as a media program coordinator at the East-West Center in Honolulu. I hope that Irina and Myra’s careers are as fulfilling as mine has been.