Communities Sarah Ferrari
Understanding the Plight of Child Soldiers
On choosing Marlboro
I came here mostly because I liked the atmosphere. And I liked the idea of studying whatever I wanted to—that was the biggest pull factor for me. I wasn't sure what I wanted to do, so having that freedom was kind of nice. I wanted to come to a small school, but being here I found that it also has its drawbacks. I like working closely with faculty members, but sometimes I like to have my space, and in a small school that's difficult.
On the Plan of Concentration
Basically I'm a psychology student: my Plan is studying trauma in child soldiers, specifically in the Middle East; I focus on Iran and Iraq. I look at resiliency and social programs to help child soldiers in post-war situations, and then I'm also looking at economics and development in the Middle East and how that plays a role in the recruitment of child soldiers. I have one paper that's all about initiation of children into armed groups. I talk about a lot of the problems girls face in armed conflicts, because boys aren't the only ones recruited into war. There are a lot of 8-9-10-year old girls that are out there fulfilling the roles of women in those communities.
On the World Studies Program
My sophomore year I decided that since I was doing so much Middle Eastern studies work, and I was studying Arabic, that World Studies Program made sense. But then of course it was a rush to get all the coursework in. To be in the program you have to have some idea of what you're doing, because it's very difficult to balance that coursework with your other coursework. So for a prospective World Studies student I would say you have to know what you're getting into and be prepared to complete it. I would definitely recommend deciding your freshman year.
On the international internship
My internship was in Alexandria, Egypt, where I worked with an organization called Gudran, which aims to promote community development through artistic practice. Surprisingly—given Egypt's historical past—there is a relatively small arts community in Egypt and a significant lack of appreciation for most forms of art. Gudran does a lot of work trying to educate people in the arts through workshops. They work a lot with children and they have gallery shows, trying to introduce Egyptian artists to other artists.
As a world studies student, I was doing all of my classes here at Marlboro while completing my internship abroad. I was working a full-time work week—between 40 and 50 hours a week, plus overtime during special events—and taking a full semester credit load. I was also teaching English on the side and taking Arabic classes. That was on top of living there by myself—and I don't know the language all that well—and to be a young American woman in the Middle East, you can imagine it's not easy.
On life After Marlboro
I'm anticipating going directly into a graduate program in clinical psychology, with a focus on child and adolescent psychology. There are a lot of things that I haven't studied here, so taking the GREs was difficult because I have no math background. But being at Marlboro has given me the opportunity to work at a really high level that most undergraduate students don't have the opportunity to do. And most of my work has been independent, because there aren't very many books that encompass the extent of my Plan topic, especially not on the countries I have chosen to focus on—Iran and Iraq. I have to read books in five or six different fields to put them all together. So that gives me a leg up, but sitting in a class with a whole bunch of students that have been through a strict psychology program...I'm sure I won't have problems but it's going to be a tough transition.