Bridgewater State has a planetarium on campus, where you can look at the stars, and I’ve always had dreams that are larger than life…BSU has helped me reach all the stars I’ve ever wanted to touch.
Standing in the United Nations Assembly Hall in Geneva, Switzerland, 蒂安娜Jurisic-McGuire19岁的他笑着说. She knows she’s come a long way from the little girl living in a Bosnian refugee camp. 事实上, these days she’s turned the tables: she’s working to help people who are as vulnerable as she once was.
原产于波斯尼亚, Jurisic-McGuire and her family were forced to enter a refugee camp shortly after war broke out in 1992.
“I can recall picking worms out of the cornmeal and picking bugs out of potatoes so we would have something to eat,” the Bridgewater State University alumna said.
Despite the difficulties, Jurisic-McGuire said, she wouldn’t change a thing about the experience.
“它教会了我很多. I learned to persevere from a very young age,”她说。. “When you’ve gone hungry and lived in fear, it gives you a fire that a lot of people don’t really relate to. It’s been a critical piece in moving forward in my adult life.”
今年夏天, she brings her passion to Geneva where she works as a human rights intern on the Human Rights Report for the United Nations.
除此之外, she is responsible for presenting reports to 93 members of the United Nations regarding specific issues related to the rights of women, 孩子们, and the right to an education.
The hardships of her childhood inspired her to reach for the stars, to be fearless. That desire to fly is how she discovered BSU.
“当我还是个小女孩的时候, my dream job was to be a pilot, and I had heard that Bridgewater State had an aviation program,法理-麦奎尔说, who has family ties to New 英格兰. “I’ve known since I was 12 that’s where I wanted to go to school, so that’s where I applied.”
Once she got to BSU her flight path, so to speak, changed. She decided to double major in political science, with an international relations concentration, 以及刑事司法. She also minored in anthropology.
Jurisic-McGuire immersed herself in campus life and tried new things such as becoming a member of the Irish step team, 加入女生联谊会, and participating in BSU’s Best Buddies program.
“When I was at Bridgewater I even went skydiving. That was awesome,”她说。. “But my favorite, most important role, was being a study abroad ambassador.”
Jurisic-McGuire only spent three semesters on the BSU campus, the rest of the time she took advantage of the school’s study abroad program to travel and study around the world.
She became the youngest recipient of an Erasmus Grant offered through the BSU 出国留学 office that allowed her to spend a year doing human rights research in Manchester, 英格兰.
The time spent in 英格兰 further strengthened her desire to help others and when she learned of the internship with the United Nations, Jurisic-McGuire applied and was accepted.
Unfortunately, because of COVID, the internship was cancelled. So, instead she pursued and earned her master’s degree in public health from UMass Lowell.
去年11月, 然而, she was surprised to receive a call asking if she was still interested in moving to Geneva to take part in the prestigious internship.
After a long discussion with her husband, she accepted the offer and made the move overseas this past April.
Once she’s completed the internship, she plans to start her PhD in Public 健康 at the University of North Carolina and will be spending time in South Africa doing dissertation work.
When she thinks about her journey, Jurisic-McGuire credits BSU for serving as a catalyst and helping to create the path she’s on.
“Bridgewater State has a planetarium on campus, where you can look at the stars, and I’ve always had dreams that are larger than life…BSU has helped me reach all the stars I’ve ever wanted to touch,”她说。.
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