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Cal State-Long Beach scholar serves U.N. at summer internship

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  • Cal State-Long Beach scholar serves U.N. at summer internship

    Daily Forty-Niner via U-Wire
    University Wire
    August 1, 2005 Monday

    Cal State-Long Beach scholar serves U.N. at summer internship

    By Rachel Furlong, Daily Forty-Niner; SOURCE: Cal State-Long Beach

    LONG BEACH, Calif.

    Come fall Anahit Samarjian will certainly have a lot to tell her
    friends about what she did on her summer vacation.

    Samarjian, a student at Cal State Long Beach, has spent most of her
    summer in New York City taking part in the United Nations Headquarters
    Internship Programme, which began June 7 and ends Friday.

    While an internship at the UN is already quite an accomplishment in
    itself, Samarjian's situation is particularly special. The program is
    supposed to be for graduate students but she will just be beginning
    her junior year at CSULB in the fall after she returns from New York.

    Samarjian, who is double majoring in international studies and
    communications, is a President's Scholar at CSULB. She was born in
    Armenia but moved to Fresno at a young age, where she lived until
    she came to Long Beach to attend school.

    Samarjian is working in the Department of Management at the UN directly
    under the secretary of the Fifth Committee of the General Assembly. The
    Fifth Committee is on the six main committees of the General Assembly
    and is in charge of working out administrative and budgetary issues.

    The Fifth Committee meets for three sessions each year. The one
    Samarjian has been working on began in May, and has generally focused
    on peacekeeping. She attends meetings of the Fifth Committee, takes
    notes, and reports on what happened, as well as other odd jobs.

    "I don't really do that much." she said. "They can't really give me
    anything too important to do."

    The Fifth Committee is supposed to be completely neutral, and as a
    part of the Fifth Committee, Samarjian is supposed to be completely
    neutral on the issues being deliberated.

    "It was made very clear to me on my first day, 'Do not express
    opinion,'" she said.

    However, she has enjoyed being able to walk around the UN headquarters
    and to talk to people. She also has her own computer there, on which
    she has access to various official documents.

    "It's really amazing, I have access to all of these important documents
    and information that I would have never come across had I not come
    here," she said.

    Samarjian said her experience at the UN has been valuable because
    she has learned a lot about the world and how it is run.

    "I've learned a lot about politics, political processes, world affairs,
    bureaucracy," she said. "I really have a better idea of the reality
    of how things are run in the world on the highest levels."

    From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
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