Laramie native and UW student Gabriel Selting has been honored for his work in international studies and relations by being awarded the Undergraduate Student International Excellence Award.
The Undergraduate Student International Excellence Award is presented annually at UW to an undergraduate whom the university believes has made a significant contribution to global awareness on campus and in the community.
“The award sounds great, but by no means is it a ‘job well done’ type of award,” Selting said. “There’s still so much work that needs to be done.”
Selting’s interest in international affairs began when his family lived in London. This experience opened Selting up to the world of international studies.
“I had a lot of time to think about global issues in London, given its status as one of the world’s global cities,” Selting said. “Hearing different languages and seeing a massive array of different cultures was probably when I became interested in global affairs.”
Since then, Selting has been a part of many facets of international studies. One of the foremost of these is his ongoing work in Haiti. Selting works with the Foreign Language Institute (FLI) in Haiti to provide education and support to those who have less opportunities. He met the founder during a trip to Haiti in 2014.
“The FLI addresses shortcomings by promoting programs that enrich civil society and offering English and French training, a fundamental means of escaping poverty for Haitian youth,” Selting said. “However, the institute had no financial support and would soon be evicted from their building, effectively ending the FLI.”
Effective action was required to save the institute. Selting did his part by organizing fundraising campaigns and by giving presentations to organizations like the Laramie Rotary Club. Selting said he plans to continue this work in the future.
“My future goals regarding ‘the Haiti Project’ are to use the ISSC as a platform to receive teachers from the FLI, all of whom are unpaid volunteers, and fund their participation English programs Wyoming,” Selting said.
He also plans to lead a group of students to work directly with the program in Haiti in the near future.
Selting said studying international relations and studies is becoming increasingly difficult as the world becomes more connected.
“People in the field tend to roll their eyes when we hear the word ‘globalization’ because it’s used so often, but it’s really the only way to describe what’s happening to our world,” Selting said.
Selting said receiving this award has been a noteworthy achievement, but that it does not signify that his work is done. In the future he hopes to become a diplomat in Iraq, Jordan, Syria or Yemen.
“As a Foreign Service Officer, I hope to serve as an intermediary between aid programs, the national government and international law,” Selting said. “That way I can work through legal obstacles that prevent aid access so I can better facilitate emergency humanitarian aid to refugee camps or marginalized communities.”
These goals may seem to be far in the future, but Selting’s work now in international studies and in the International Studies Student Club is enabling him to make that goal a reality.
“I think the most significant thing to come out of this award has been some of the connections I’ve made,” Selting said. “Both former and current diplomats approached me during the ceremony. I had a great time talking about future career potentials with them.”
Overall advances in international relations at UW is another thing that Selting said he is proud to be recognized as a part of.
“The fact that UW recognizes international work means that it has a real interest in promoting internationalization throughout Wyoming,” Selting said. “I’ve worked really hard alongside the International Studies Student Club, so recognition on that end means a lot to me as well.”
Selting said he would like students to know that the process by which accomplishments are made is far greater than the accomplishment itself.
“My growth as a student has come far more from concentrating on the work than focusing on how people will perceive it,” Selting said. “I’m so thankful that the university recognized my efforts, but the very next day the club is right back into it, fundraising our tails off and desperately trying to find ways to meet our goals.”
