Academics
Search
Features
Marcia Hook on graduation day.05/04/2009
MAAS Graduate Marcia Hook Ponders Her Past...and Looks to Her Future
Recent MAAS graduate Marcia Hook is something of a travel fiend.
In addition to studying in Chile for an academic quarter while an undergraduate at Stanford University, Ms. Hook spent two of her three summers in Lebanon and the West Bank. In the summer of 2004, she spent two months studying Arabic at the University of Beirut before traveling to Nablus, West Bank, to work in a refugee camp associated with An-Najah National University called Al-Askar.
Once, it turns out, was not enough for Ms. Hook. The following summer she returned to Nablus to complete her research for an honors thesis on the Samaritan community in Nablus and Holon; after graduating from Stanford, she returned to Nablus yet again. During that six-month stay, she worked for Amideast, volunteered at the public relations office at An-Najah National University, and taught free English classes in the Balata and Askar refugee camps. Not one to be tied down for too long, Ms. Hook then traveled to Jerusalem, where she lived for seven months studying Hebrew in an ulpan, a school for the intensive study of Hebrew.
After graduating from the MAAS program this month, Ms. Hook will pursue a J.D. at Harvard Law. After that, possibilities abound.
“I haven't figured out exactly what I want to do immediately after graduating from law school, though eventually I would like to work in policymaking, particularly relating to Middle East issues,” she said via email.
Ms. Hook said she sees herself possibly working for a human rights organization or a firm that specializes in negotiating deals among companies in the Middle East and the United States. Whether through her profession or volunteer work, she hopes to work on human rights issues in a setting in which her proficiency in Hebrew and Arabic would be of great use.
She also hopes that speaking these languages will demonstrate a high degree of respect for the people with whom she would potentially work.
“You can never underestimate how much just making the attempt to communicate with someone in their own language, no matter how bad you are, means to people,” she said.
“And if they don't appreciate it,” she added, “at least it gives them a good reason to laugh when you make the inevitable occasional mistake.”
Related Content
No related content exists for this item.