Eunice Ajambo is a political science/international relations major from Uganda. Her passions include community service, journalism, public policy, and social justice. Her many activities at Carleton include co-founding AFRISA, the African student Association; co-directing the volunteer program Books for Africa; co-hosting Talking Politics with a professor on the campus radio station; and representing Namibia at the National Harvard Model United Nations conference, for which she won an honorable mention award. She has been a journalism intern at the All Africa Foundation and Global Media in Washington, D.C. and was selected as a junior summer fellow at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University. She received two summer research fellowships from Carleton to study the decline of popular participation in South Africa’s democratic process.

How did you adjust to Carleton?

For me, coming to Carleton was all about growing up-it’s hard to pinpoint one thing that was a challenge. There were lots of challenges-missing my sisters and my boyfriend, adjusting to the culture, learning to live with my roommate, understanding the whole idea of a liberal arts education-but all of them were part of the package of growing up and what it means to be responsible, what it means to prioritize. There are lessons I learned along the way, but I never really took them negatively. I felt like I’d given up so much just to be here, but I also understood that being here was important. So reconciling those two things was one of the biggest challenges-not being able to choose between the education and family, friends, and home.

How did you select your major?

My first political science class at Carleton was “Introduction to International Relations,” and I loved it. I came alive. I’m the kind of person who wants to make change in the world and I’m interested in issues like international understanding, social justice, and peace. I wanted to understand how the world works and why things are the way they are. Political science is the major that is going to help me do that. I still love it and it makes me come alive-I’m happy there.

What would you say to an international student considering Carleton?

It’s a wonderful place. I’ve made it into a home away from home. I’ve used all the opportunities that are available to me to succeed. It’s important to know that here you can make the decision to succeed-it’s upon you to make the experience what you think it should be for you and to use the opportunities, the resources, and the facilities that are here. That’s one thing I love about this place-you and make it into what you need it to be.