Because peace studies is an interdisciplinary major, it can be a profession in many ways. Peace Studies has provided me with a skill set that can be applied and molded to address any issue internationally and interpersonally. Peace can be a profession in many ways because it requires frustration over injustice and working to do something about it. I want to pursue peace as a profession because I want to help foster change.

Personally, I am angered and frustrated by the state of the world in general and I want to actively work towards making a positive difference. I am not sure which route I want to go about peace as a profession in the long run but in the near future, I plan to use the skill set in a Los Angeles K-12 public school in a low-income area. Why? The school-to-prison pipeline should not be a thing. The fact that it even exists is a testament that the government has failed students, especially students belonging to minority groups who make up most of the demographic of the school-to-prison pipeline. Students are more than the sum of their parts. English, being a person’s second language, should not be viewed as a setback. A student’s academic success should not be dependent on the area in which they live or their socioeconomic status. I can make a difference for the students that I will be working with because I can empathize with them on a personal level, as I also attended low-income Los Angeles public schools. Some of the schools I might work at will be those my parents attended. College, success, family planning and other factors should be the rule and not the expectation. I think that I can utilize mediation, conflict analysis mechanisms, and an intersectional lens to help the students. I want to help students have the support that I received throughout my education and help inspire students from underrepresented communities to enter spaces that they thought were impossible. I think that this program will allow me to give back and grow as a person allowing me to employ the skillset I have gained at Chapman.

Last year I studied the importance of ethnic studies and descriptive representation in K-12 public schools, and it makes a large difference for students belonging to racial minorities. Culture matters, representation matters, and I want to work with the students at these schools because they matter and are just as capable of success as their white, affluent counterparts.

I chose Peace Studies because I could not and did not want to focus on a singular issue. I want to be able to pursue a variety of issues that are important and have an expansive versatile skill set to make a difference. I also think that peace is not only just a profession but a life style. It requires empathy, solidarity, and working to help all marginalized groups. Peace is a profession that is more than just wanting change but doing something to create the change you wish to see.