Name: Kyla P.
Hometown: New Canaan, Connecticut
Major(s): International Studies
Minor(s): Economics, Entrepreneurship and Management
Current job: 2nd year Masters student at the School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS)
Tell us a little about the path from graduation to your current job/career: I applied to the 5 year BA/MA program with SAIS in February of my sophomore year, wrapped up undergrad by the end of junior year, spent senior year completing the first half of my Masters in Bologna, Italy, came back for graduation to receive my BA diploma, and will now be progressing towards my graduate degree in Washington D.C. this upcoming year.
Any internships/pre-professional experiences at JHU? I worked as an Investment Analyst for White Star Real Estate in Warsaw, Poland for the summers between freshman and sophomore year, and sophomore and junior year. I also worked as a Finance and Business Development Intern for RBI (3G Capital portfolio company) in Miami, Florida between junior and senior year.
What extracurriculars were you involved with at JHU? Women’s Varsity Soccer, Alpha Phi, Alumni Student Ambassadors, Student Athlete Advisory Committee, Study Consultants, Political Science Department research on space weaponization with Professor Deudney.
In what ways did your Hopkins education prepare you for your career? The International Studies Department played an integral role in helping fund opportunities for me to study and work abroad (ie. Weissman, Aronson), and outside of my internships, the Study Abroad Office helped facilitate several of these opportunities (ie. I studied Renaissance Art History in Florence, Italy, and conducted public health research in Kampala/Rakai, Uganda during two of my three Intersession breaks). The extracurriculars I was involved in helped build a sense of community for me both within and beyond the Hopkins campus, connecting me with incredible alumni, exposing me to new opportunities, and challenging me to test my own personal limits and take on new responsibilities.
What about being a Hopkins student do you miss the most? Having my best friends right next door or across the street—being able to share o much with them, from the NCAA championships to the late night chats to adventures off campus.
Knowing what you know now, what would you want to tell your pre-college self? Question the limits you set for yourself every chance you get and surround yourself with the kind of people who will do the same. Also, just say yes—take a risk, apply for that position you never think you’ll get, stay up way too late, venture off campus, get to know your professors, strike up a conversation with that person you don’t know but would like to, allow yourself to reach, overreach, fail, and learn from it all.
