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Kiera Rose Berdinner

Biography

During her childhood, Kiera Clarke's parents divorced. She and her mother moved frequently and sometimes found themselves homeless. Kiera believes that this experience taught her to pursue opportunities, gave her an ability to adapt to circumstances, and instilled a love for seeing new places and meeting new people. In middle school, Kiera used a combination of scholarships, school-sponsored fundraisers, and her own independent fundraising to study abroad in Kanazawa, Japan. Prior to starting her undergraduate degree, she volunteered with a church program in a small and impoverished village in southern Malawi.

Some time transpired before Kiera made "what now seems to be such an obvious connection" between her time overseas, her beliefs in social justice, and her education. In her sophomore year at the university, she found herself intellectually stimulated by the subject of international political economy, and discovered her capabilities were suited to this area of study. During her first immigration course, she interned with the International Rescue Committee (IRC) as a service learning project. She worked with refugee high school students as they prepared "Refugee Voices" presentations for local schools. After her internship, she continued volunteering with IRC and their refugee clients. When the Refugee Voices grant expired, Kiera conceived of and started a new speakers bureau program. She also held jobs at a children's hospital and in a church music library while studying full-time.

This scholarship enables Kiera to pursue her ideal graduate program, combining academic excellence with the values she believes should underpin public policy. "My goal is to pursue a career in forced migration policy, that is, policy relating to refugees, asylum-seekers, and internally displaced persons. I want to guarantee that there are policies and procedures in place that protect the dignity and rights of every human being."

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