Following their last year at Prep, Seniors Zoë Pomeroy, Kine Yade, and Elena Lovejoy are set to attend colleges abroad, all in Europe.
Zoë Pomeroy plans to spend two years at Trinity College Dublin in Ireland and study Middle Eastern & European Languages and Culture. As a part of a dual BA degree program at Columbia University, she also plans to spend two years back in the U.S. studying Political Science. Columbia’s unique international dual degree programs are open to all students and provide students with unique undergraduate experiences at Trinity College Dublin, Sciences Po, and Tel Aviv University.
Looking toward the future, Pomeroy said, “I’m interested in working in international politics and I’m interested in law. My dream job would be to work at the International Criminal Court at The Hague.” She added that “being closer to that and having the alumni network from a European institution is a really cool prospect and is also going to be beneficial I believe to reaching my dream.”
Thinking back to why studying abroad will fit who she is, Pomeroy said, “When I wrote my essay for this program, I talked a lot about how an essential part of my identity for so long has been the fact that my family is not really American. Most of my family lives in Europe.” She continued, saying, “I have gained an international perspective from them from a young age, but obviously I still live in America, and I have a very American perspective.”
Pomeroy believes that what she wants to study in college can be a very polarizing topic in America, saying, “I wanted to get out of that American media bubble to learn from other perspectives as well as have non-Americans in my classes and hear those unique perspectives.”
Kine Yade is off to Sciences Po in Paris, France and is set to study Government & Science. She is also part of the dual BA degree program at Columbia and plans to study Political Science back in New York.
Yade described why she was drawn to go study abroad, saying, “What I’m actually studying happens to be basically international politics and so I want to be in an international location with a whole bunch of international students. I want to have a more diverse focus.”
Yade’s family is also Senegalese, and both her parents speak French so studying in France gives her a great opportunity to be closer with her family and learn more about the French culture.
Yade also mentioned the financial aspect as a major reason she was interested in studying abroad, saying, “I applied to a lot of international schools, not necessarily because of what I was majoring in but because it was cheaper. Why would I pay four years for a university in America when it is a third of the price to go in Europe?”
Elena Lovejoy will be attending Bard College Berlin in Germany and will be studying History and Art.
“I think with what I want to go into, Berlin itself seemed like a really good place for art and history. The opportunity to go to Europe allows for exploring and I think that is really exciting,” Lovejoy said.
She added, “I want to work in a museum sort of setting, either as a tour guide or as an art restorer, working with old paintings to preserve the history and the art all in one. Going abroad and being able to have classes in museums, in cities in Europe, that thing is really cool for what I want to do with the rest of my life.”
All three are excited for what lies ahead and encourage underclassmen to explore study abroad in college.
“I would definitely encourage people, even if they’re not going four years abroad, to at least do a semester abroad, because I think it totally changes your entire perspective on the world,” Pomeroy said.
