Secretary of State Hillary Clinton doesn't spend all her time chatting with interns - but College senior Rafaela Zuidema will still have a good chance of seeing her around the office this summer.
Zuidema will start work in the State Department just one week after graduating, providing day-to-day support to Clinton in the Office of the Secretariat.
The office drafts documents, writes contracts and manages logistics, but Zuidema doesn't yet know what her precise role will be.
"I've been told to memorize the names of all of the offices in the State Department," she said, which suggests she may work with internal coordination.
As a Pickering Fellow, Zuidema receives State Department sponsorship helping with education, internships and training.
It was through a Career Services e-mail that initially learned of the fellowship, which she applied to in her sophomore year.
The Pickering Fellowship is offered to 20 undergraduates nationwide each year and represents a major commitment between the scholars and the State Department, Zuidema said.
An in-depth interview conducted by State Department officials in Washington, D.C., ensures the scholars will be able to cope with the unique pressures of diplomatic life, she said.
Zuidema, who has travelled extensively in her lifetime, sees the opportunity as "an adventure" and said that while acknowledging the unique pressures of the lifestyle, all of the students on the program share a passion for international affairs.
After the summer in Clinton's office, Zuidema will spend two years in graduate school before joining the State Department permanently.
She said she does not expect to stay in the country long after that - Clinton's predecessor, Condoleezza Rice, favored placing new recruits in "hardship posts" involving conflict or extreme poverty.
Zuidema said she hopes to be a voice "for positive change" in the department, adding that she would not have decided to work there without the firm belief that the U.S. can be a force for good in the world.
Born in the Netherlands, she said that she is "a bit Dutch" in her sense that everyone in the world ultimately has the same interests in common.
Zuidema speaks a number of languages but Arabic, which she began studying at Penn, has confirmed her interest in being placed in the Middle East.
Having spent time in the region, she said people were getting excited about President Barack Obama and in "emotionally driven cultures," his charisma and way of reaching out can be effective.
Her interest in the region expanded at Penn through the International Relations and Modern Middle East Studies majors. She has just completed her senior thesis in International Relations on international peace keeping in intrastate conflicts.
Penn has also taught her to push herself to be the best in her field.
"I have not noticed this at other schools - ambition and drive," she said.
She said this mentality made her proactive in applying for internships and the first great internship that a student can get "will have a domino effect."
*This article was updated at 6:00 p.m. on 3/30/09 to reflect the fact that Zuidema is both an International Relations major and a Modern Middle East Studies major.
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