Sydney Ward
About
Sydney Ward is a recipient of the Summer 2018 Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) Fellowship. The award provides undergraduate, graduate, and professional school students with financial support to develop fluency in less commonly taught languages (LCTLs) and expertise in the regions in which these languages are spoken. Every year the Center for Global Studies awards between 12-15 fellowships to UW students. Click here to learn more.
I am an undergraduate student double majoring in International Studies and Near Eastern Languages & Civilizations. My research interests focus on the topic of migration out of the Middle East and North Africa into surrounding European countries. After high school, I spent nine months in Morocco on the US Department of State’s Kennedy-Lugar Youth Exchange and Study (YES) Program, where I saw firsthand the migration crisis as Morocco serves as a major refugee transit point to Europe. In the future, I plan to attend law school in order to focus on immigration law, with the aim of a career in international relations and public administration. With the help of the Arabic summer FLAS, I was able to quickly build upon my previous Arabic studies and form a better understanding of the Moroccan dialect of Arabic, as well as the diversity of the region’s cultures. As I continue with my Arabic studies, I am happy to say that FLAS has been instrumental in aiding in my pursuit of working with Arabic-speaking immigrants.