Deborah Jantz

Read junior Deborah Jantz’s reflections on growing up abroad, choosing IR, and interning at the Africa Regional Media Hub at the U.S. Department of State.  

“Over the course of my 20 years, I’ve lived about 9.5 years overseas in Germany, Japan, and Hungary. I had great conversations with my peers who came from all over the world, I attended an international church, and did Model United Nations, all of which sparked my interest in IR. In high school, especially because I was at an international school, I started to gain even more of an appreciation for how many perspectives I had been able to learn from in my transitory life. I actually came into Stanford thinking I would study English, but I took one IR course and was really excited about it. Once I got into IR as a major, my interests started leaning toward International Security, and I think that has especially been driven by my experience growing up as a military kid. It’s very fun to bring in and sometimes have challenged my fairly positive views of our military.

I’m currently working for the Africa Regional Media Hub with the State Department. They monitor and craft the way the US diplomatically presents itself to Africa, by hosting various speakers from governmental organizations in the US to give briefings to members of the African press. I originally applied because I speak French, but while my secondary specialization in IR is Europe & Russia, I also am very aware that I need to know more about the world in general. One missing piece that I didn’t know much about was Africa, and I realized that French is going to be almost more useful in Africa and policy there than it is in Europe. I decided to apply, essentially, to learn more about the continent and how we relate to it because I think it’s going to be more and more important in the decades to come when I hope to be working in policy in some form.

One thing I love about studying IR is how Stanford is able to attract many speakers who are experts in their field. I also really appreciate that I can find so many different views in the department, from current military members who take classes with us, international students in the program, and students who are passionate about the issues that matter most. I’ve genuinely felt supported by the conversations Stanford’s IR department and Stanford itself have allowed me to have.”